Strange Witness Statements

[pathfinder73]

"Kate said in her novel that Gerry suggested they might flee Portugal hidden in the boot of a car."

Is this true?

[icabodcrane]

"Kate said in her novel that Gerry suggested they might flee Portugal hidden in the boot of a car."

Is this true?

Kate says, in her book :

Gerry was seriously considering sneaking us into a car and driving us all across the border to Spain

This was on  the evening they had both become  Arguido  and believed charges were likely

[pathfinder73]

Thanks for the correct quote. Are they playing a game? That hire car certainly did a lot of mileage.

[Angelo222]

Kate says, in her book :

Gerry was seriously considering sneaking us into a car and driving us all across the border to Spain

This was on  the evening they had both become  Arguido  and believed charges were likely

Ica...are you talking about the evening after the arguido interviews or the night before when their lawyer visited them??   They must have been petrified with this coming over and above everything else.   

[Benice]

Kate says, in her book :

Gerry was seriously considering sneaking us into a car and driving us all across the border to Spain

This was on  the evening they had both become  Arguido  and believed charges were likely

The full quote is:
 
The prospect of being separated from Sean and Amelie, holed up in jail, unable to prepare our defence properly was terrifying.  Gerry was seriously considering sneaking us into a car and driving us all across the border to Spain.  It would have been crazy.   The whole world would have thought we were guilty, and maybe that was what the police were hoping we'd do.
 
Most people find it hard to comprehend how innocent people can confess to crimes they haven't committed.  Gerry and I don't.  Not now.  The monumental psychological duress we were under can easily lead to bad, irrational decision-making.  Thankfully we resisted the urge to flee.  When we left Portugal. it would be with the blessing of the PJ and our head held high.
END QUOTE
 
partial quote:-
 
.........................Saturday 8 September........................we were notified by Liz Dow, the British consul in Lisbon that Luis Neves and Guilhermino Encaracao had declared us  'free' to leave the country whenever we wished. 
End quote.

The McCanns had already decided (on 27th August) to leave before the date they were made arguidos and had made arrangements to come home on Monday 10th September.  After being made arguidos and no doubt therefore with all hope gone that the PJ were  searching for their daughter - and the real perpetrators,  they decided to follow the advice of their lawyers and leave ASAP.  So they left on the 9th instead of the 10th. 

To claim they 'fled ' because they were made Arguidos is not strictly true -  they were coming home anyway.

And who can blame them.  I certainly don't.   Who in their right mind would stay in a hostile foreign country where you'd just discovered the police were trying to pin a heinous crime on you which you didn't commit.

[stephen25000]

The full quote is:
 
The prospect of being separated from Sean and Amelie, holed up in jail, unable to prepare our defence properly was terrifying.  Gerry was seriously considering sneaking us into a car and driving us all across the border to Spain.  It would have been crazy.   The whole world would have thought we were guilty, and maybe that was what the police were hoping we'd do.
 
Most people find it hard to comprehend how innocent people can confess to crimes they haven't committed.  Gerry and I don't.  Not now.  The monumental psychological duress we were under can easily lead to bad, irrational decision-making.  Thankfully we resisted the urge to flee.  When we left Portugal. it would be with the blessing of the PJ and our head held high.
END QUOTE
 
partial quote:-
 
.........................Saturday 8 September........................we were notified by Liz Dow, the British consul in Lisbon that Luis Neves and Guilhermino Encaracao had declared us  'free' to leave the country whenever we wished. 
End quote.

The McCanns had already decided (on 27th August) to leave before the date they were made arguidos and had made arrangements to come home on Monday 10th September.  After being made arguidos and no doubt therefore with all hope gone that the PJ were  searching for their daughter - and the real perpetrators,  they decided to follow the advice of their lawyers and leave ASAP.  So they left on the 9th instead of the 10th. 

To claim they 'fled ' because they were made Arguidos is not strictly true -  they were coming home anyway.

And who can blame them.  I certainly don't.   Who in their right mind would stay in a hostile foreign country where you'd just discovered the police were trying to pin a heinous crime on you which you didn't commit.

Then of course, who in their right mind would leave 3 small children undefended in an unlocked apartment in in a foreign country, the first place ?

[Benice]

Then of course, who in their right mind would leave 3 small children undefended in an unlocked apartment in in a foreign country, the first place ?

I see you're still trying to convince yourself that the McCanns invented the Listening method of child checking for parents on holiday Stephen.

If you care so passionately about it - why don't you track down all the hotels etc who still offer this service and lobby them to withdraw it.    IMO that would be far more productive than spamming this forum with the same old mantra - and think how good you would feel about yourself if you managed to get just one hotel to withdraw the service.

Just a suggestion.

[AnneGuedes]

The full quote is:
 
The prospect of being separated from Sean and Amelie, holed up in jail, unable to prepare our defence properly was terrifying.

How ridiculous ! In jail ! If you're proved to have exposed your children you get a fine. Only if you don't want to pay it, you go to jail.
What are fines made for ? To change people's mentalities ? No, it's just an attempt to dissuade them of doing wrong again. Next time they likely pay a baby sitter, it's cheaper.

[pathfinder73]

"The Interpretation of Murder" - a strange title of a book to read after your daughter has gone missing and could possibly be murdered?  Very strange our the McCann's.

[jassi]

I see you're still trying to convince yourself that the McCanns invented the Listening method of child checking for parents on holiday Stephen.

If you care so passionately about it - why don't you track down all the hotels etc who still offer this service and lobby them to withdraw it.    IMO that would be far more productive than spamming this forum with the same old mantra - and think how good you would feel about yourself if you managed to get just one hotel to withdraw the service.

Just a suggestion.

I don't see that it matters what others might do, or offer.
It is for each parent to make their own risk assessment, based on their judgement and to then live with the consequences if they get it wrong..

[Carana]

How ridiculous ! In jail ! If you're proved to have exposed your children you get a fine. Only if you don't want to pay it, you go to jail.
What are fines made for ? To change people's mentalities ? No, it's just an attempt to dissuade them of doing wrong again. Next time they likely pay a baby sitter, it's cheaper.

That's not quite what they were made arguidos for, though, is it?

[AnneGuedes]

Arguidos are just witnesses assisted by a legal advisor.
They're not separated from their kids nor put to jail.
But they become "people of interest"... which is a bit different from "victims". Hence the insinuation they were victims of a police more obsessed by finding a guilty one than Madeleine.

[Benice]

Arguidos are just witnesses assisted by a legal advisor.
They're not separated from their kids nor put to jail.
But they become "people of interest"... which is a bit different from "victims". Hence the insinuation they were victims of a police more obsessed by finding a guilty one than Madeleine.

IMO They were not talking about being aguidos.     But if the PJ could get it so wrong as to make them arquidos in the first place then what else could they be facing  - arrest?    They had no way of knowing what was going to happen in the future - but they did know the PJ were trying to pin the crime on them - so why on earth would they want to stay. 

 

[AnneGuedes]

IMO They were not talking about being aguidos.     But if the PJ could get it so wrong as to make them arquidos in the first place then what else could they be facing  - arrest?    They had no way of knowing what was going to happen in the future - but they did know the PJ were trying to pin the crime on them - so why on earth would they want to stay. 

 

Portugal is a State of Law, whether you like it or not. Nobody "pins" murder on nobody here. There's a constitution, a written one (not like in the UK), that guarantees respect to human beings.
You refuse, Benice, to understand what an arguido is, perhaps because it doesn't suit your agenda which is to portrait the McCanns as major victims of abducting monsters, venal media and criminal police officers.
According to you they deserve heaven without confession. Good. But the time hasn't yet come.

[Benice]

Portugal is a State of Law, whether you like it or not. Nobody "pins" murder on nobody here. There's a constitution, a written one (not like in the UK), that guarantees respect to human beings.
You refuse, Benice, to understand what an arguido is, perhaps because it doesn't suit your agenda which is to portrait the McCanns as major victims of abducting monsters, venal media and criminal police officers.
According to you they deserve heaven without confession. Good. But the time hasn't yet come.

I know exactly what an Arguido is Anne.  I know they have rights which they don't have as witnesses.  My post was in response to yours where you say:-

Quote
How ridiculous ! In jail ! If you're proved to have exposed your children you get a fine. Only if you don't want to pay it, you go to jail.
What are fines made for ? To change people's mentalities ? No, it's just an attempt to dissuade them of doing wrong again. Next time they likely pay a baby sitter, it's cheaper.''
End quote

You make it sound as if they were made arguidos in respect of some minor misdemeanour.     Are you now saying that Amaral did NOT think they had disposed of the dead body of their child - for which I presume a jail sentence would be imposed - and that all they had to fear was fine and that prison was never a possibility?

Crimes DO get 'pinned' on innocent people, miscarriages of justice DO happen.   Are you saying that because you have a written Constitution that has never happened in Portugal?    If so Portugal must be the only country in the world who can make that claim.