Gonçalo Amaral confirms he will appeal the damages decision to higher Court.

[Carana]

Why ask me?

Honest question (whether you, me or anyone else)... how would anyone prove any damage done?

[Jean-Pierre]

Yes -40 calender days from the judgement, then one because it falls on a Sunday.

[G-Unit]

but it was found that amaral has to pay damages...you seem to want to accept some parts of the judgement but not other parts...the bits that suit your point of view

Have you read the judgement and the facts proved/unproven? That's what I did. The award was made to Kate and Gerald McCann only. No award was made because harm was caused to the 'search', nor for any 'libels' affecting their children, despite what they told the newspapers.

"We want to emphasise that the action was never about money. It has always been focused on the effects of the libels on our other children and the damage that was done to the search for Madeleine," they said in a statement.

[Mr Gray]

Have you read the judgement and the facts proved/unproven? That's what I did. The award was made to Kate and Gerald McCann only. No award was made because harm was caused to the 'search', nor for any 'libels' affecting their children, despite what they told the newspapers.

"We want to emphasise that the action was never about money. It has always been focused on the effects of the libels on our other children and the damage that was done to the search for Madeleine," they said in a statement.

the search may well have been harmed by the book...but it was not proven

[stephen25000]

the search may well have been harmed by the book...but it was not proven

The 'search' by the mccanns you mean ?

i.e. the stroll on the beach the following morning ?

Great 'search' wasn't it ?

[ferryman]

the search may well have been harmed by the book...but it was not proven

It baffles me that the notion of people reading, and believing, a book which proclaims that Madeleine is dead, Kate and Gerry know Madeleine is dead, indeed, caused her death and hid her body, then fabricated a fraudulent appeal in their (dead!) daughter's name, could possibly have done other than harm the search for Madeleine.

Some things are just so self-evident, they don't stand in need of proof.

[Brietta]

If you had been in that situation, how do you think that you could you have proved that it had?

I'm not all that sure there isn't sufficient evidence out there to substantiate the claim made that Mr Amaral's efforts did indeed have an adverse effect on Madeleine's case and the search for her ... however by purposely side stepping all of that for the time being and concentrating on two points of law, which are not anyone's opinion or infringing on the defendant's right to freedom of speech, but are in statute ... she has cleverly focused her decision on reasons which are impossible to argue.
As far as the unprecedented amount of the award goes, I think that may be an indicator of her opinion of everything else which was presented in court, I think it may be hard to get that overturned ... and it should be remembered that could backfire ... it could be increased at appeal.


With thanks to pathfinder ... just one article which tends to confirm the damage done to the search for Madeleine.


Madeleine McCann disappeared from apartment 5A at the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz ... ... and those who committed to recover her, on the days that followed the tragedy, now point the finger at the parents, who don’t move and don't convince anyone, anymore.
     For the people, Maddie is dead and buried… by the hands of her parents.

And this crime without punishment generates a revolt that feeds off the theory of former investigator Gonçalo Amaral.

***
In Praia da Luz, opinions about what happened to little Maddie that night are divided, but the vast majority believes that she died, and holds the parents responsible. Almost nobody rises to defend the McCanns.

***
Maria Bandeirinha says that she had photos of the little girl on her shop window, but she tore everything off when she stopped believing the McCanns' innocence. "The other shop owners did the same. I'm increasingly on the side of Gonçalo Amaral.
He knows the truth, and if he says that the little girl is dead, then she is.

***
 The only difference is that the people have made their judgment... Most of the residents want to see Kate and Gerry pay for their daughter's death.

***
Only a while ago, when Gerry came here, he was jeered at on the street and if people could, they would have beaten him up." Maria Bandeirinha adds: "Sometimes, popular justice would be a good thing. It would be swifter and easier. Nobody believes a word they say anymore. They still have some support in church, but the priests also know very well what happened that night."

***
"He (Gerry McCann) didn't stay at the Ocean Club, I don't know where he slept, and he could hardly set foot on the street, because people wanted to give him a beating... Then he had some ridiculous letters distributed, which were all over the place, shredded, on the next day", another resident of Luz told us, showing us a sample of the letter (Madeleine posters).

***
Marta Vaz de Sousa, the head of Valentim de Carvalho Multimédia, took the documentary 'Maddie – The Truth of the Lie', that TVI broadcast, to MIP, in Cannes, and is preparing its sales. "There are more than 15 countries interested in it, business deals that could be closed within a week."
http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=6044.msg244437#msg244437


Seems to be pretty much cut and dried according to that article and many others like it that Mr Amaral's book had a detrimental impact on the search for Madeleine McCann ... particularly where it mattered most ... Portugal.

[Carana]

Have you read the judgement and the facts proved/unproven? That's what I did. The award was made to Kate and Gerald McCann only. No award was made because harm was caused to the 'search', nor for any 'libels' affecting their children, despite what they told the newspapers.

"We want to emphasise that the action was never about money. It has always been focused on the effects of the libels on our other children and the damage that was done to the search for Madeleine," they said in a statement.

Again.

If a former police officer had insisted in the media - for years on end - that you had committed serious crimes, what would you do to prove direct damage?

Even though the issue is about a missing, possibly living child, let's change the focus to a different situation.

Let's say that this officer had insisted in all the media that you had encouraged an elderly relative / OH / secret lover to commit suicide, or that you had sexually harrassed a neighbour / former work colleague for years prior to their disappearance... How would you react and what would you do?

[Carana]

It baffles me that the notion of people reading, and believing, a book which proclaims that Madeleine is dead, Kate and Gerry know Madeleine is dead, indeed, caused her death and hid her body, then fabricated a fraudulent appeal in their (dead!) daughter's name, could possibly have done other than harm the search for Madeleine.

Some things are just so self-evident, they don't stand in need of proof.

There appears to be a flexible concept in PT law referring to the "rules of common experience". Normally, it is meant in the sense that you don't have to formally establish that the sun normally rises after the moon..., or that Wednesday comes a day after Tuesday.

However...

For some reason, this was invoked in the Cipriano case when a single neighbour had allegedly seen Joana walking back towards her home from the shop and therefore, in the view of the learned judges, "common experience" dictated that as children generally get back home, it was therefore a proven fact that Joana had indeed arrived back home as well. There was nothing to prove that this was the case.




The matter that was considered to be proved in items aa), ab), ac), ad), ae), af), ag), ah) ai), aj) al), am), an), ap), aah), aai), aaj) and aam) was based on the deposition of witnesses AA3, CC3, CC4, DD, CC8, II, DD1 , MM and BB1, on the reconstitution files and on the search and apprehension files, as well as on the subsequent forensic exam, all interpreted under the light of the rules of experience.

(...)
aa) minor CC returned home from “Pastelaria…”, where she had bought the aforementioned food products;

[Carana]

The issue appears to have been the difficulty in proving DIRECT evidence of the consequences of his book, the docu drama and the one article submitted as an example.

At the moment, from what I can gather of PT law, if others take direct action (even based on one person's spoutings), then it is still those who took direct action who should be procecuted.

Hopefully a media personality inciting genocide might be tackled under national security laws...

[ferryman]

So does Ms Baulch have a plan 'B' for what to do with all that money if Amaral is denied leave to appeal?

[jassi]

Perhaps you need to write and ask her - I doubt anyone on here knows the answer.

[ferryman]

So Amaral is sailing it fairly close to the wind in making his application.

He has about 6 days left ....

[Brietta]

So does Ms Baulch have a plan 'B' for what to do with all that money if Amaral is denied leave to appeal?

Do Gofund me take their cut before or after the donations go into the bank account?  Must be before from each donation, I would imagine.  Once it is in the bank account only the owner of the account would be the able to decide on what is to be done with it.
If the stated aim of the funding cannot be achieved ... I would imagine the person whose name is on the account owns it.
 

[G-Unit]

For those who didn't see it, I posted information from the PJGA website showing that the money from gofundme has already been passed to the PJGA legal fund bank account (well, that's how I understood it)