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Original Source:
SOL: 18
AUGUST 2007 |
By Felicia Cabrita, with Margarida Davim
Sol paper edition, on August 18: |
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Translation
by astro |
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The version that the McCann couple and their group of friends have been giving
about what happened on the night that Madeleine disappeared, is shaken by new
testimonies that were collected by Sol.
The English started by saying they took turns every 15 minutes in order to,
through the windows of the rooms where the children were sleeping, listen if
anything abnormal was happening. This ‘vigilance’ system, which they assure was
efficient throughout a week of holidays, is questioned by an English citizen
who lives in the apartment above the one that was occupied by Kate and Gerry
McCann.
Employees deny Russell
Senn told Sol that, on the night before she disappeared, Maddie cried for quite
some time, calling out ‘daddy, daddy!’.
Also the table waiters that were working in the resort’s restaurant – the
Tapas, where the group of friends had dinner that night – didn’t notice much
movement of checking on the children. One of them guaranteed to Sol that, since
the beginning of dinner (which started between 8.30 and 9 p.m.), only two men
got up, almost simultaneously.
One of them was Russell O’Brien, one of the doctors of the group, who was
absent for most of the dinner and who returned to the table 5 minutes before
Kate went to her apartment and noticed Maddie was missing. Russell then
explained that his daughter was sick, and even “vomited so it was necessary to
change her bed sheets”. One of the employees of the Ocean Club, who was heard
by Sol this week, contradicts his version: “If that had happened, he would have
to ask the housekeeping service for some clean sheets, which did not happen”.
During the short hour that dinner lasted, the group asked for, and consumed at
their table, eight bottles of red wine and six of white wine, according to the
restaurant’s records.
GNR was on location since 11 p.m. With the help of a member of staff from the
Ocean Club, who helped as a translator until 4 a.m., they collected the first
reports. Although Maddie’s mother guaranteed that, when she noticed her
daughter was missing, the shutters of the room where the children were sleeping
were up and the window was open, the members of this police force did not
detect any clues to indicate that these had been forced.
On the other hand, the resort’s employee guaranteed to Sol that “the shutters
are so old and simple” that, with the sun exposure they were subject to in
these 14 years, if anyone did “try to open them from the outside, they would
have broken”. The main door to the apartment didn’t show any signs of a
break-in, either.
The McCann family were never alone. Dozens of members of staff at the resort
appealed to the local population, mostly English citizens, and the surrounding
areas were searched thoroughly. The couple was busy making phone calls.
Aurelio Guerreiro, the owner of a bar at the marina in Vilamoura, was close to
being involved. His testimony to Sol confuses the McCanns’ time version.
Sometime between 0.30 and 1 a.m., Aurelio got a phonecall from an old customer:
Pat Perkins, the human resources director from a public English organism. She
calls him, upset: “She told me the daughter of british friends of her, who were
vacationing close to Lagos,
had disappeared over 3 hours ago, that they were completely alone and that
nobody was helping them to search for her”.
Kate McCann had just informed her parents of the tragedy. Pat, who lives in Liverpool, confirms: “I was at Kate’s parents’ house at
that moment. But I have nothing further to add”. |
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