Podcasts by Mark Saunokonoko of 9News.

[ShiningInLuz]

I don't know. I do know that passer's by probably wouldn't think.......'that child looks dead to me'.
I'm pretty sure I've been in this position before, walking home at night on holiday, other holidaymakers walking in the opposite direction carrying a kid in exactly the manner described. I wouldn't assume 'dead child', but may wonder why he/she wasn't in a pram.

I don't know if you have walked on calçadas (Portuguese paving cobbles).  They are used for being durable, not for being smooth.  Pavements are normally 'rugged', so often people choose to walk on the tarmac of the street instead.

Best information suggests (I say no more than that) that Smithman headed down the Travessa das Escadinhas, the passageway of little steps.  The title is misleading.  The steps are very much on the large side.

All in all, that route is not buggy friendly.

It suggests (again I can say no more than that) that Smithman was travelling a short distance and knew the local terrain.

[Robittybob1]

I don't know. I do know that passer's by probably wouldn't think.......'that child looks dead to me'.
I'm pretty sure I've been in this position before, walking home at night on holiday, other holidaymakers walking in the opposite direction carrying a kid in exactly the manner described. I wouldn't assume 'dead child', but may wonder why he/she wasn't in a pram.

A nearly 4 year old in a pram!  You've got to be joking.

[Robittybob1]

I don't know if you have walked on calçadas (Portuguese paving cobbles).  They are used for being durable, not for being smooth.  Pavements are normally 'rugged', so often people choose to walk on the tarmac of the street instead.

Best information suggests (I say no more than that) that Smithman headed down the Travessa das Escadinhas, the passageway of little steps.  The title is misleading.  The steps are very much on the large side.

All in all, that route is not buggy friendly.

It suggests (again I can say no more than that) that Smithman was travelling a short distance and knew the local terrain.

So with your version of Smithman was the child alive or dead?

[The General]

A nearly 4 year old in a pram!  You've got to be joking.

OK man, chill the heck out. It's just a comment.
If you have a buggy on holiday, which they may or may not have, then why not use it? MY 3.93 year old would happily go in a pram on holiday.
But not on a steep, cobbled, stepped street, as SIL descibes. Otherwise I'd end up up carrying both!

[Robittybob1]

OK man, chill the heck out. It's just a comment.
If you have a buggy on holiday, which they may or may not have, then why not use it? MY 3.93 year old would happily go in a pram on holiday.
But not on a steep, cobbled, stepped street, as SIL descibes. Otherwise I'd end up up carrying both!

Looking up Google 4 year olds in a buggy OK it isn't that uncommon. 

[The General]

Looking up Google 4 year olds in a buggy OK it isn't that uncommon.

I'm glad you Googled '4 year olds in a buggy' and I didn't.
Try explaining that to the rozzers - 'I was trying to prove a total stranger wrong on the internet, honest'.

[ShiningInLuz]

So with your version of Smithman was the child alive or dead?

I can't prove anything about that one way or the other.

Here's what I do know.

It's easy to see from where Smithman 'emerged' down to the bottom of the 'passageway' of little steps.  So he saw a large group of people coming towards him.

He had 3 easy options to avoid them.  Yet he chose to pass them.

Over to you to make your own mind up.

[ShiningInLuz]

OK man, chill the heck out. It's just a comment.
If you have a buggy on holiday, which they may or may not have, then why not use it? MY 3.93 year old would happily go in a pram on holiday.
But not on a steep, cobbled, stepped street, as SIL descibes. Otherwise I'd end up up carrying both!

The McCanns did not take a buggy on holiday.

If they had, things might be quite different now.

Just as things might be quite different if they had taken a baby monitor with them.  But they didn't.

[pathfinder73]

That could be describing any innocent person taking his child home.

Not when you know who he is. Lies catch up with you.

[The General]

The McCanns did not take a buggy on holiday.

If they had, things might be quite different now.

Just as things might be quite different if they had taken a baby monitor with them.  But they didn't.

What I would say is, theoretically and as a macabre as this sounds, it would be much easier to pass off a dead child by carrying her/him a la Smithman, than it would in a buggy, cobbled street notwithstanding. You'd get a good front on view of a child in a buggy.
It's irrelevant as they didn't have one. Maybe they couldn't be arsed lumping it around, but if I had 3 infant kids on holiday I would refuse to leave the house without one.

[ShiningInLuz]

What I would say is, theoretically and as a macabre as this sounds, it would be much easier to pass off a dead child by carrying her/him a la Smithman, than it would in a buggy, cobbled street notwithstanding. You'd get a good front on view of a child in a buggy.
It's irrelevant as they didn't have one. Maybe they couldn't be arsed lumping it around, but if I had 3 infant kids on holiday I would refuse to leave the house without one.

Understood.

After 2 trips from 5A to the Millennium, they decided to knock that on the head.  It's a nightmare with 3 toddlers and no buggy.

After that the twins went to a playgroup in the Tapas zone.  A much easier walk.  Whilst Madeleine went to the club above OC reception.  That involves a challenging flight of steps, but relatively easy for a parent holding tightly to Madeleine's hand.

Perhaps they were fortunate in their location.  Perhaps not.  Things might have turned out differently for Madeleine if the T9 had all been located closer to the Mill, but we will never know, will we?

[Venturi Swirl]

What I would say is, theoretically and as a macabre as this sounds, it would be much easier to pass off a dead child by carrying her/him a la Smithman, than it would in a buggy, cobbled street notwithstanding. You'd get a good front on view of a child in a buggy.
It's irrelevant as they didn't have one. Maybe they couldn't be arsed lumping it around, but if I had 3 infant kids on holiday I would refuse to leave the house without one.

Wouldn’t you have to have a real nerve to walk through town carrying an uncovered dead body?  Would ‘t every braincell in your head be shrieking “cover up the body, don’t be caught with a corpse in your arms”? 

[jassi]

Perhaps if you were in that situation, it was because there was no other choice.

[Venturi Swirl]

Perhaps if you were in that situation, it was because there was no other choice.

No one was forcing anyone to walk through town at 10pm with an uncovered corpse.

[Robittybob1]

Perhaps if you were in that situation, it was because there was no other choice.

No other choice but to act normal.  But a dead child won't act normal.  A frightened living child might not act normal.