http://www.mccannfiles.com/id232.htmlWidow Denies SOL (paper edition)
by Felicia Cabrita
01 November 2013
With thanks to Montclair for translation
The former companion of the man the PJ suspect of having abducted Maddie accuses the police of looking for a "scapegoat". And guarantees that the Cape Verdian, who died in 2009, was "incapable of touching a child".
The widow of the suspect in the death of Madeleine McCann which led the PJ to reopen the case has guaranteed to SOL that she will "hire a lawyer to defend the honour and memory of the father of her son".
"After having spoken of so many other people, it is disgusting that they are now getting a dead person to serve as a scapegoat" - deplores the wife, who does not want her name made known. The ex-companion of the suspect, 40, was surprised to be called by the PJ to be heard, in Lagos, in the context of the investigation, which has been reopened in the meantime. A woman inspector told her that they were investigating the man with whom she had lived until 2009, the year in which the current suspect died in a work accident with a tractor, in Bragança.
"Four years after his tragic death, they come and make it known that he is being investigated because there is a reference to him in the case files of the disappearance. He wasn't even working at the Ocean Club when this happened. They kept asking me question after question: 'When did he work there? When did he leave?...' But so much time had passed that I had to make an effort to be precise".
For this woman, it is a mystery as to why the PJ - 7 [sic: 6] years after Maddie's disappearance and 4 years after the death of her son's father - have turned the needles around: "It is very easy to make someone responsible when they aren't here to defend themselves. They can't, due to not having anything else, start looking at the weakest ones. He would never be capable of touching a child".
Police records only for pilfering
The past of the man, who died at 40, is the same as many others who, with the chaos in the ex-colonies after the 25th of April, abandoned his country. From Cape Verde, he came with his family to Portugal and settled in the north of the country. He jumped from job to job, from building work to restaurant work, until he settled in the Algarve, where he met a young student from the Liceu in Lagos and with whom he lived.
His drug abuse led him to commit some thefts and he was even jailed, but only for small crimes connected to drug use. In 1996, he was pardoned by Jorge Sampaio for the crime of theft in Portimão, which stopped him from being expelled from the country. His police record, where there is nothing about paedophilia, made him the perfect suspect for the PJ team in Porto who reanalysed the Madeleine McCann case.
He was never seen in the area of the apartments
His police record did not help him in getting jobs: he lived from small jobs hand to mouth. In 2006, it was with the help of the father of his companion, a building contractor, that the couple and their small child survived. In the summer of that year, the tourism in the Praia da Luz area was a promise and the man was able to obtain a job at the Millennium, one of the restaurants of the Ocean Club group, located about a kilometre from the apartments where Maddie's parents were staying.
However, according to various sources at the resort, Monteiro was never seen in that area, even when he worked there nor soon after, during the high season, when they asked him to leave. "He was caught taking 5 Euros from the till and we asked him to leave. We were surprised because he seemed a very correct person, looked good and spoke well. We did not even make a police complaint because it was such a small amount" a source from the hotel told SOL.
A colleague who worked with him at the Millennium adds: "One thing is stealing 5 Euros, another is murdering a child. And he always spent his time talking about his little boy, whom he adored. And I doubt that he ever went to the area of the apartments. Because he worked here so little time and also because he started at 4pm and left at midnight". And he remembers: "That it is funny that the PJ is saying that he could have abducted the girl for vengeance for being fired, when he accepted the fact humbly".
In his life, Monteiro never had any luck. In the Algarve, for those who work in restaurants, employment is seasonal and he never had a stable job. He is not known for any kind of explosion of bitterness which would have led to a retaliation - namely, in other resorts in Lagos where he worked after the Millennium, such as the Quinta da Boavista (2008) and the Quinta da Atalaia (2009).
Triangulation would permit the reconstruction of the route
In 2007, when Maddie disappeared, Monteiro worked with Sisaqua, company which treats water and residual waters, with their headquarters in Lisbon.
According to what has been in the news, the Porto PJ had been led to this ex-worker through the triangulation of the mobile signals which were activated on the night of 3 May 2007 in the area of the resort, and realised that the suspect was in the area the night Maddie disappeared.
But, according to police sources heard by SOL, in this way the case should be solved quickly, once the triangulation of the communications - which is done with the reading of 3 points (transmitter and call receiver and operator antenna), to identify the precise location of the suspicious mobile - which would permit the discovery of the direction and route taken, before, during and after the crime.
Initially, in 2007, that mobile, as with many others, was not associated with any one person. But the analysts of the PJ Porto are supposed to have identified the owner, and, possibly, because he had a criminal record, they searched and found that number on the mobile traffic list in the resort area.
This ex-employee has become a suspect, apparently because he had a police record and had no reason to be in the area. However, Monteiro lived 5 kms away (in a straight line) from Praia da Luz and always worked there. The PJ, however, believes that he abducted the child, 3 at the time, but have not yet discovered the motive: either to commit a sex crime or to take revenge on the Ocean Club, putting their security in question.
Police sources contacted by SOL have, however, pointed out that it is important to find other elements with would help to establish the suspicions about his presence in the area, namely the timeline of the mobile phone found in the area and comparison of police records with the evidence already gathered.
In the meantime, the ex-companion will file an injunction to keep the journalists from her residence: "If the police told me that the case was under judicial secrecy, how come the journalists are all at my door and bothering my family?", asks the wife, who up until now has remained silent. "With so many children who are abducted in Portugal, why do the police only care about the English girl?".
CASE REOPENED 5 YEARS LATER
New evidence leads the MP to reopen the investigation. The McCanns' spokeman will not comment on "speculation" about the new PJ suspect.
In July 2008, one year and two months after Madeleine's disappearance, the Public Prosecutor [Ministério Público] shelved the case for lack of evidence that the 3 arguidos - Robert Murat, a British man who lived in the Algarve and the parents of the child, suspected of hiding her body after an accident - had committed "any crime".
Five years later, the investigation has been reopened after a request by the PJ, who presented to the Public Prosecutor "new indicative elements which justify pursuing the investigation" - announced the Attorney General [Procuradoria-geral da República] on 24 October.
The PJ did not reveal their leads, but made it known that the McCanns were not suspects. The investigation is being carried out in Portimão and is led by a team of inspectors from Porto - who, on order from national headquarters, re-evaluated the investigation made at the time by their colleagues in Faro and the coordinator Gonçalo Amaral.
The reopening came about after, in the middle of October, Scotland Yard - which has been investigating for at least a year with an exclusive team - put out, on the BBC Crimewatch programme, two e-fits of a man (described as white, short brown hair, no beard, medium height, between 20 and 40) based on the description of two witnesses who said they saw him on the night of 3 May 2007, going down a street near the resort towards the beach at Praia da Luz, carrying a blond child in pyjamas in his arms.
"Although the man may or may not be the key to unblocking this investigation, it is vital for us to find and talk to him", stated Andy Redwood, admitting at the time that it was not the only line of inquiry: "There are more e-fits of other people seen in the area on the day of Madeleine's disappearance as well as the days prior to it":
At this time, it has been made known that a team of 6 PJ inspectors from Faro have been named about a month ago to carry out diligences which are part of a rogatory letter sent to the Public Prosecutor by the English.
Despite their collaboration, the PJ and SY are carrying out autonomous investigations. "We are not saying anything about the speculation made in the Portuguese press" answered Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, when asked by SOL about the new suspect of the PJ.
