I have always been fascinated by the account of this young girl, because to me she is the perfect witness.
At eleven years, she is old enough to have a reasonably adult view of a situation. She is mature enough to understand what is required in giving an intelligible and meaningful account of a suspect for the purposes of a police investigation.
At the same time, her child's eyes are free from the kind of prejudice or sophistication of perception that a more mature person may have. This is betrayed in her descriptions, which are fresh and clear. They are not over - interpretive but are merely reports.
Added to all that is the fact that, being local to Praia da Luz, and even having spent a great deal of time in apartment 5A, she is well aware of the terrain and local habits, and therefore has a certain sensitivity to what might be considered out of the ordinary in this context.
Her statement clearly shows her instinctive suspicion and wariness of this individual, even though it is not explicitly stated (she says for example that she 'walked right up to the man and observed him directly' ). She describes him as 'ugly' and 'disgusting' - perhaps not words an adult would use very often in describing another person.
It is also significant that her first sighting of him occurs on 30th April - 2 days after the McCanns arrive in PdL - and that after her second sighting on Wednesday 2nd May, he is not seen by her again.
Whether or not any of these suspects we are looking at were seen in the locality after Madeleine's disappearance is highly significant. In an area where the population is in constant flux, there are probably few people who would be able to report on how long certain people remained in the town. We are fortunate that she has been able to include this detail in her account.
