So let's be clear - murder suspects deserve to be tortured, even before they have been found guilty of any crime, is that your view?
We deal in facts here Alfie, the Ciprianos conduct immediately following Joana's disappearance gave rise for concern thus why the GNR passed the file to the PJ in Portimao initially who then passed it to HQ in Faro. Their stories conflicted, they said one thing one day and something else the next. Leonor eventually admitted to the hitting her head against the wall episode. Her brother John corroborated her tale and admitted that he too did it.
The priority for the police then was to recover the child dead or alive and after eight days if she was being held somewhere she might have needed urgent help. While Leonor was being questioned, John Cipriano was followed in the hope he would lead police to the girl, he didn't.
Leonor was arrested, charged and remanded in custody, John was released on bail on the basis he would show police where Joana was buried. It was at this point that the police lost patience with Leonor who had continually exploited the situation, she was interrogated and beaten in order to extract the truth of where the girl was.
I don't condone what they did but I can understand why they did it.