Author Topic: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.  (Read 30783 times)

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Offline Anna

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #30 on: March 06, 2015, 06:28:49 PM »
Portuguese father of tug-of-love Irish schoolgirl to be charged with kidnap



Published 26 February 2015


The Portuguese father of Irish schoolgirl Ellie Silva is due to be tried next month for her kidnap.  Filipe Silva, 38, has been ordered to appear at a court in the Algarve capital Faro on March 17.  He faces up to ten years in jail if convicted.



Ellie’s mother Candice Gannon says her daughter loves being in Ireland with her twin siblings.

Ellie’s mother Candice Gannon, 30, and stepfather Philip Gannon, 47, have applied to give evidence from Dublin by video-conference.

Confirmation of the court date comes more than two years after Ellie, ten, was reunited with her mother at an Algarve children’s home after nearly seven months apart.

Mr Silva, 38, disappeared with his daughter in July 2012 during a two-week holiday and flouted a court order to return her.

The schoolgirl started a new life in Ireland last May with her mother and stepfather at their home in Ballsbridge, Dublin, after a family court judge in Portugal allowed her to leave the country.

Mrs Gannon said last night: ‘Life is very good for us in Ireland. Ellie could not be happier. She loves her new school, is inseparable from [her sister] Olivia and she is a huge help with the twins [her brothers] whom she adores.

‘It’s so nice we can all finally enjoy a normal life in Ireland. Things could definitely have turned out a lot worse for us.

‘Thank God we got Ellie out of Portugal when we did.’

She added: ‘It took the Faro courts five months to issue an arrest warrant, a full year to formally accuse him of a crime and another 20 months to proceed to trial.

‘It’s a miracle we got Ellie out of Portugal when we did.

‘Given everything that happened during and after the time Ellie was kidnapped, I’ve learned not to expect too much justice from the Faro courts.’

Mr Silva, who had a holiday fling with Mrs Gannon in 2004, has consistently denied any wrongdoing and is expected to plead innocent at the start of next month’s trial.

Ellie, who was born in Portugal, is due to give evidence, as is her mother and stepfather.

A police report submitted to the trial court – and expected to be outlined during the hearing – reveals the lengths that Mr Silva went to keep Ellie’s mother from seeing her.

He is accused in the report of meticulously planning to stay one step ahead of the law.

It is alleged he abandoned the Algarve with his daughter, ended contact with his closest family and friends, and even refrained from using his normal mobile or bank cards and accounts.

Police also highlighted how they discovered his daughter only received part-time schooling at an educational centre on the outskirts of Porto, northern Portugal.

Officers concluded that he had decided against having her schooled at home after discovering he would have to seek permission from the local education authority and give details of the address where Ellie was living.

The report had recommended that Mr Silva’s mother Ana Maria should be accused of kidnap but state prosecutors decided against charges.



Irish schoolgirl kidnapped:Ellie, pictured here with her stepfather Philip Gannon who flew to Portugal to collect her.

Despite being charged with kidnap, Mr Silva was allowed to apply for custody of his daughter.

Mr Silva was told last April that his application had failed and his daughter would be returning to Ireland.

Ellie had to remain in Portugal until the decision was announced.

Ellie was separated from her mother, stepfather and sister Olivia, now four, after they returned to Ireland when Mrs Gannon became pregnant with twins and was told they had a potentially life threatening condition.

Eventually the child flew home to a family reunion last May after Mr Gannon picked her up at Funchal Airport on the island of Madeira.

www.evoke.ie/news/irish-schoolgirl-kidnapped-by-father/

Another (hopefully) happy ending for a little girl.
“You should not honour men more than truth.”
― Plato

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #31 on: March 20, 2015, 10:20:15 AM »
Ellie kidnap trial delayed until May 21



Published 17 March 2015



Ellie Silva (Gannon) with her younger sister Olivia pictured recently in Ireland

It has taken years to come to trial and now even that is being delayed. The trial of Filipe Silva, the father who kidnapped his own daughter, Gisele “Ellie” Silva, in 2012 was due to take place this week but has been delayed for “processual reasons”. These are thought to include difficulties involved in setting up video links. Ellie now lives in Ireland with her mother, stepfather and younger siblings.

As her mother Candice has told us on a number of occasions, neither she nor her daughter have any desire to return to Portugal for the hearing, and Ellie’s father has in fact had no contact with his daughter for months.

“He has never even visited her in Ireland,” she told us.

Candice spent seven agonising months not knowing where her daughter was while Silva held the little girl in a flat in a closed condominium in Porto.

PJ police monitored Silva’s movements throughout the months he had Ellie, finally detaining him in February 2013.

Silva’s trial is now scheduled to go forwards on May 21.

www.portugalresident.com/ellie-kidnap-trial-delayed-until-may-21
« Last Edit: March 20, 2015, 10:23:17 AM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #32 on: May 31, 2015, 01:17:40 PM »
Trial now postponed until October 2015

Heartache mum fears Ellie’s kidnap dad “may never face justice”



Nearly three years after Filipe Silva disappeared on holiday with his daughter Ellie - keeping her from mother Candice for seven agonising months - his criminal prosecution for kidnapping has been yet again delayed.

The case which should have started on Wednesday is now scheduled to be heard in October, and even then, there is no guarantee of a firm date.

Talking to the Irish Examiner this week, Candice - who now lives in Ireland with her daughter and growing family - said she doesn’t think Silva “will ever pay for what he did”.

She claims the Portuguese justice system has “bent over backwards” for the father of her eldest daughter, while she has been treated like “a nasty foreigner”.

As national and UK media have repeatedly claimed, Candice has long felt victimised by the Portuguese justice system. Indeed a leaked court report shown to the Resident last year revealed shocking behind-the-scenes manoeuvres by a female Albufeira magistrate caught in phone taps with Silva’s mother who kept in close touch with her son throughout the months he was “on the run” with Ellie.

The conversations showed “without any shadow of doubt, that the magistrate was firmly on the side of Ellie’s father”, explained Candice, but incredibly Évora judges did not see it that way, and refused to acknowledge any evidence of complicity.

This latest delay in bringing the case to justice has been blamed on a court “foul-up”. Candice, her businessman husband Philip Gannon, and Ellie were all due to give evidence by video link from Dublin but the Portuguese court system “did not submit the correct paperwork”, claims the Examiner.

“They left out names, the case number, and half the information that was needed,” Philip, 48, told the paper.

“Our suspicions are that this was done deliberately to add further delays to the trial.

“But given the total incompetence that we have seen from the Faro courts over the past few years, it is possible that it was just a case of stupidity.

“One notorious kidnapping case in Portugal over a 12-year-old boy took 12 years to go to trial.

The Portuguese court system has a backlog of 20,000 cases so we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

As the family wait, saying they want to see Ellie’s father convicted, the Examiner reports that Silva’s €165,000 home in Vilamoura has gone up for auction “to discharge his large debt for non-payment of child support since 2011”.

As we reported in February, since Ellie has been living in Ireland in the sole custody of her mother, Silva has “never once visited” her, and Candice claims her 10-year-old daughter is still “terrified” that he might try and kidnap her again.

http://portugalresident.com/heartache-mum-fears-ellie%E2%80%99s-kidnap-dad-%E2%80%9Cmay-never-face-justice%E2%80%9D#sthash.jGIoeEot.dpuf
« Last Edit: May 31, 2015, 01:27:51 PM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #33 on: November 04, 2015, 01:14:01 AM »
An update on the Ellie Silva abduction case.



Algarve - Ellie kidnap case, father took daughter "due to his despair"

30 October 2015

The trial of Filipe Silva started today. Silva is the Vilamoura based businessman who abducted his daughter Ellie (pictured) in 2012, sparking a nationwide search which tracked the girl down to an apartment in Oporto.

Witness claimed in court today that Filipe Silva did not plan the kidnapping of his daughter, stating that the girl told her father that she did not want to return to Ireland where she lived with her mother Candice.

The former partner of Filipe Silva said today in court that the girl's father acted out of desperation.

Filipe Silva, who failed to return the girl in July 2012 ('September 2012' was claimed in court) after spending holidays with her, then hid Ellie for seven months to the distress of her mother and current husband.

The first session of the trial finally started on Friday morning, after three postponements, with the former partner of the businessman, who at the time lived with the accused, said that in the days before the date set for Ellie’s return to Ireland, the eight-year-old had cried and asked her father not to take her back to her mother.

"He (Filipe Silva) grabbed her daughter and said 'do not cry anymore, your father will not take you to Ireland,'" according to witness Ana Isabel Almeida who added that her ex-partner had been "desperate" not knowing what to do, and acted "instinctively" and had not planned to flee with his daughter.

Silva, who today chose not to testify, took the girl to a friend's house in Oporto where she was found seven months later in February 2013.

Ellie finally was handed over to the authorities by Filpe Silva’s paternal grandmother and Filipe Silva was detained by the Judicial Police.

Before deciding to keep the girl from her mother, in August 2012 Filipe Silva filed an injunction to try to block Ellie’s departure to Ireland.

This was a result of a letter from Ellie’s mother, Candice Gannon, "in which she expressed her intention of moving from Madeira to Ireland with her daughter and her current partner."(In fact this letter was a formal request from Candice Gannon for Silva to agree to Ellie moving to Ireland.)

Ana Isabel Almeida also claimed that the girl's mother did not provide her with a stable life, and claimed that while residing in Madeira, Ellie changed school "five or six times."

The next witness for the defence, Luis Calçada Correia, a long standing friend of the accused Filipe Silva, said that Silva was concerned about the move to Ireland.

"I know Filipe well and he would never do anything against the will of his daughter," said Correia, who then alleged that Candice Gannon did not behave normally as a mother, claiming there had been some episodes of heavy drinking.

Luis Calçada Correia, the owner of a pharmacy in Vilamoura and neighbour of the accused, said that Ellie said several times that she did not want to lose contact with her father and definitely did not want to go to Ireland.

The trial continues and it is expected in due course that Ellie, her mother and Philip Gannon will testify by teleconference from Ireland with a different version of the events and facts surrounding the lead up to and period of Ellie's kidnap.



Press Comment:

Silva's defence seems to be off to a very shakey start as It is already proven in the Faro criminal court that Ellie's mother did not plan wrongfully to remove her daughter to Ireland, as his witnesses are claiming. She had written a formal request to Silva to which he was not obliged to agree.

Prior to Ellie's kidnapping, the Portuguese Family Law Court, the High Court the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court all had issued decisions that awarded the custody of Ellie to her mother. Filpe Silva ignored the request for Ellie to live in Ireland which he was under no obligation to agree to and hid her in Oporto for seven months.

A source close to this case commented that based on the facts it will become clear that Silva deliberately broke the law by taking and hiding his daughter from her mother and the authorities, and has shown no remorse for his actions nor the pain and suffering he has caused to Ellie and her mother.

The time, trouble and expense Silva has caused the Portuguese authorities may also be taken into account. The personal opinion of his witnesses may not be enough for Silva to avoid a conviction for the serious crime of kidnap of which he is accused.

Ed.

http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/7076-algarve-ellie-kidnap-case-father-kidnapped-his-daughter-out-of-despair

« Last Edit: November 04, 2015, 01:19:02 AM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #34 on: November 04, 2015, 01:44:44 AM »
Interesting that the Portuguese Press are for the most part avoiding this story with the Correio da Manhã (Morning Post), Portugal News and the Portugal Resident all failing to report the latest news.

Thanks to Paul Rees at the Algarve Daily News for the above update.

« Last Edit: December 07, 2015, 02:16:03 PM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #35 on: December 07, 2015, 02:17:22 PM »
Ellie kidnap mum reveals daughter “still undergoing daily therapy sessions”



4 December 2015
by Natasha Donn



Over three years since a Portuguese father snatched his British child and kept her in hiding for seven months, the kidnap trial is finally underway in Faro, with a now 10-year-old Giselle “Ellie” Kelly Silva having given her evidence to judges via video link.

Weeks after a similar case saw a Portuguese father jailed for three years, this new trial once again highlights the issue of psychological damage inflicted on children in tug-of-love issues.

Ellie’s mother Candice told Faro Court this week that her daughter continues to undergo daily therapy sessions.

It is the family’s way of trying to redress the trauma suffered by the enforced absence from Ellie’s normal everyday world.

The child told the court how she had been forbidden to see other children when her father Vilamoura businessman Filipe Silva took her during a two-week holiday and set up home in a friend’s apartment in Porto.

Very much like little Maria Alice from Tavira, who was held by her father in Belgium for more than two years, Ellie described how she had to wear a disguise whenever she went out; how her father called her by an assumed name, and how she had been unable to call her distraught mother because she was “worried” about her father’s reaction.

The court had heard Silva’s side of the story at an earlier hearing. A former girlfriend explained that Ellie had not wanted to return to her mother after the holiday, and that a “desperate” Silva had acted “instinctively” by taking her into hiding.

This week mother now of four Candice reiterated the heartache the ordeal had caused.

“It was a nightmare,” she said over the video link. “For seven months, I didn’t know if my daughter was alive or dead.”

But more than that, Candice and husband Philip Gannon found themselves up against a wall of obfuscation.

There was even collusion to the extent that a national television channel aired an unrepresentative report hours before Ellie was due to be returned to her mother’s care. (See: http://portugalresident.com/%E2%80%9Csinister-plot%E2%80%9D-almost-block...).

The family, now living in Ireland, has never stopped thanking its lucky stars that it is finally together.

Ellie came home to twin baby brothers she had never seen and a little sister who has now become her shadow.

“We’re safe,” agreed Candice, “whatever the judges decide, Ellie is learning to be a carefree little girl again.”

The next stage in this case that has seen months of postponements and delays is for Silva to give his own evidence, and then there will be time for a summing up - expected sometime in January.

The family has been careful to limit description of Ellie’s trauma, but Candice told the court that her daughter was “profoundly marked” and that she still has trouble sleeping and issues with anxiety.

It is almost exactly the description given to the same court by the mother of Maria Alice, who, asked if three years was a suitable sentence for her former partner, told reporters: “I don’t know. If I look at my daughter today, I don’t know if it was enough.”

Like Ellie, Maria Alice was described as “deeply affected” by her kidnapping, and still receiving psychological support.

www.portugalresident.com/ellie-kidnap-mum-reveals-daughter-“still-undergoing-daily-therapy-sessions”
« Last Edit: December 07, 2015, 02:24:48 PM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #36 on: December 09, 2015, 04:27:37 PM »
Ellie kidnap trial, evidence heard by video-link from Dublin




Created: 03 December 2015
 
It was a nightmare. For seven months, I did not know if my daughter was alive or dead."

Candice Gannon was giving evidence from Ireland via a video-link to Faro court on Wednesday and told the panel of judges of the psychological effects her daughter’s kidnap had on her during the months Ellie was hidden by her father, Filipe Silva.



Candice Gannon with her daughter Ellie Silva

In September 2012, when Giselle “Ellie” Kelly Silva was seven-years-old, her father Filipe Silva failed to return her after a family holiday period, taking her to Oporto where she had to use a false name and wear a disguise when leaving the apartment where she was being held.

Ellie’s absence eventually was taken seriously by the authorities in Faro and a hunt for the kidnapped girl was mounted, leading seven months later to Oporto where Ellie was found to be living with her father in the apartment owned by a friend.

Ellie finally was handed over to the authorities by Filpe Silva’s paternal grandmother and Silva was detained by the Judicial Police.

In the first session of Silva's trial for kidnap in October this year, held after three postponements, Filipe Silva’s former partner, who claimed that at the time she was living with the accused, said that in the days before the date set for Ellie’s return to Ireland, the girl had cried and asked her father not to take her back to her mother, adding that Silva had been "desperate" not knowing what to do, and acted "instinctively" and had not planned to flee with his daughter.

In the second session of Filipe Silva’s trial, Ellie, her mother and step-father gave evidence via a video-link from Ireland, where the family now lives.

Candice Gannon explained to the group of judges that her daughter had been "deeply marked" during the period in which she was held against her and the family court’s wishes and that she continues with daily therapy.

Ellie told the court that she had been reluctant to go with her father to Oporto, "I wanted to go back to my mother in Ireland. I never tried to contact my mother because I was afraid of my father's reaction," adding that she was "disguised with a cap, a jacket and sunglasses." "I felt sad, as if I was stuck."

Ellie told the court that she never left the flat except to go to school, that she was forced to use the false name ‘Pipinha’, had missed her mother but was too afraid to mention her because Silva would get very angry, had sat in a study hall on her own with a private teacher each day, went out only once, had to wear a disguise and was allowed no contact with other children.

Silva, a Vilamoura based businessman, is due to give evidence at the final hearing in two weeks time - the parties then will wait for the judges’ verdict after a summing up sometime in January, 2016.

Filipe Silva failed to attend the court hearing this week, claiming he had to go to hospital having suffered an injury.

http://algarvedailynews.com/news/7382-ellie-kidnap-trial-evidence-heard-by-video-link-from-dublin


Comment

Mary Kelly 2015-12-04

Ellie was hidden for 7 months in an apartment in Porto belonging to Mr. Alfonso Marques (single). Filipe Silva's lawyer, Dr. Nuno Remedios, lived in the same apartment building and visited Ellie regularly while she was kidnapped. She was told to call him "Tio Nuno" and he was one of her very few visitors.

Why is this practicing member of the Portuguese Bar Association not on trial and why is the Albufeira Magistrate that was caught red handed assisting Silva to evade the police not on trial?

During the time that Ellie was kidnapped, Silva paid Nuno Remedios to file dozens of groundless civil and criminal complaints into the Faro civil and criminal courts as part of their strategy to cause maximum pain and suffering to Ellie's mother, while she was desperately doing everything she could to try to find her daughter. There is no monetary amount that can compensate for this for this level of psychological stress.

Will justice be done in this case as it was in he case of Alice Evangalista. Or, will Silva's friends in the police and the local judiciary predictably let him away with it and in doing so make an international laughing stock out of the Portuguese justice system.



OLeary 2015-12-05

What is so desperately sad for the European Union as a whole is that Silva will not have had to 'sound out' two dozen or more Portuguese lawyers to find a bent one. His regular one would do nicely ! Can anyone imagine for an instant so many Portuguese lawyers warning Silva :

"Stop there, Snr. Silva. I must warn you that what you are proposing to do is illegal and in offering me money, a registered lawyer, to help you carry it out - is also not just illegal but, as a protected profession - notifiable. I will be obliged to notify the authorities if you continue to discuss this with me. The door is where you last used it - please close it on leaving"
« Last Edit: January 26, 2016, 12:10:34 PM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #37 on: January 25, 2016, 12:22:34 PM »
Daughter did not want to go away





Filipe Silva is accused of kidnapping his own daughter.

By  Pedro F. Guerreiro
20 January 2016

Filipe Silva, accused of his own daughter's abduction in August 2012, said in court on Tuesday that he just ran off with Giselle - who was just seven years old at the time - when he realized that the girl's mother and former partner, the Irish Candice Gannon, would move permanently on the island of Madeira, where he lived for Ireland. "should I have moved to Madeira to get Giselle for a holiday, but I was informed that she was in Ireland without my consent [in July 2012] came to the conclusion that the family [Candice and the new companion, Philip Gannon] had no residence in Madeira, "said Filipe Silva at Faro court. According to the defendant, who was seeking his daughter now in Ireland, the decision not to deliver the youngster to her mother was taken with the "consent" of the girl: "my daughter always told me she did not want to live away from me and at that time, I was sure she was going to live in Ireland."

The Algarve businessman tried to avoid this scenario with an injunction before the Court of Family and Children. However, after not having delivered the minor, he claimed to have been the target of threats that led him to leave the Algarve "for security reasons". He went to live with the girl in a friend 's house in Leca da Palmeira, and was only arrested in February 2013 by PJ, when Giselle returned to her mother's custody. The defendant claims that Candice, who enrolled her daughter at school by another name, wanted to prevent him from seeing the child.

http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/filha_nao_queria_ir_para_longe.html
« Last Edit: May 03, 2016, 05:30:26 PM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #38 on: March 09, 2016, 03:32:17 PM »
MP calls for conviction for kidnapping daughter





Filipe Silva fled with 7 year old daughter to the area of ​​Porto.

By  Pedro F. Guerreiro
12 February 2016

The Public Ministry (MP) yesterday asked the condemnation of businessman Filipe Silva for the minor crime of kidnapping, for in August 2012, having fled with his 7 year old daughter to the area of Porto, where he lived until February 2013.

The MP prosecutor held yesterday at Faro court that the facts "constitute the lesser echelons of crime, but also of abduction" and that Giselle "was deprived of her liberty for 7 months and deprived of contact with her mother [Irishwoman Candice Gannon]." Filipe Silva also gave evidence to the collective of judges and reaffirmed that, in July 2012, when he was seeking Giselle for a vacation, mother, Candice, and her husband, Philip Gannon," no longer had a home in Madeira ", where they lived in the past and wanted to establish permanent residence in Ireland.

Filipe Silva, who was eventually arrested by the Judicial Police in February 2013, also said that his daughter Giselle had been enrolled in an educational establishment and Madeira Education Regional Directorate with a different name (with Gannon as her family name and not Silva). This detail, according to Filipe Silva, confirmed his suspicion that Candice mother wanted to "ward of paternity" of her younger daughter.

However, the MP said that "there is no cause or legal justification" for the conduct of business owner and asked for therefore, his conviction by the minor crime of kidnapping. The reading of the sentence was scheduled for March 11.

http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/mp_pede_condenacao_por_sequestro_de_filha.html
« Last Edit: May 03, 2016, 05:44:57 PM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #39 on: June 11, 2016, 01:33:31 AM »
Faro court postpones ‘Ellie’ sentencing to hear new witnesses.



8 June 2016

A Faro court has again postponed the sentencing of a Portuguese father who is accused of kidnapping his dual-nationality daughter, to hear new witnesses. A new hearing has been scheduled for 24 June, to hear witnesses brought in by the defence.



Algarve businessman Filipe Silva was due to be sentenced in Faro’s Court for Minors and Family last Friday, for unlawfully withholding his then seven-year-old daughter Giselle – widely referred to in the media as Ellie – from her British-Irish mother, Candice Gannon, for six months spanning September 2012 to February 2013. However the sentencing was again postponed to allow for new witnesses – two people, according to Lusa News Agency – to be heard later this month.

Sentencing was originally due to have taken place on 20 May but was postponed until June reportedly to allow the Faro court time to “analyse facts that could change the original position”, Lusa reported.  On 20 May the Faro court said it was “relevant to understand what happened after the separation” of Filipe Silva and Candice Gannon.

According to Lusa, the Judge in charge of the case sent the defence and the prosecution a 27-page file containing 46 facts that indicated changes to how the case had been perceived thus far, and giving them until last Friday to analyse those facts.  As a result the defence asked for new witnesses to be heard, which the court accepted, with the new hearing being set for 24 June 2016.

The case dates back to 2012, when Silva kept his daughter from her mother, who then lived on the Portuguese island of Madeira, and disobeyed a court order to hand her back.  In the several months of her absence the child is believed to have lived with her father in Porto, and he allegedly limited contact between Ellie and her mother.  Ellie was eventually returned to Candice in February 2013 by her paternal grandmother after Filipe Silva was detained by PJ police.
 
Candice Gannon currently lives in the Republic of Ireland with husband Philip and their three young children.
Silva’s defence argues that the businessman acted out of desperation, alleging he feared his daughter was going to be taken to Ireland to live and the child had said she did not want to go.

Speaking to The Portugal News, Candice Gannon was critical of the Portuguese legal system, claiming that this trial “is becoming one of the longest trials in Faro's court history.”  If found guilty of kidnapping, Silva faces up to ten years in jail.

http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/faro-court-postpones-ellie-sentencing-to-hear-new-witnesses/38483
« Last Edit: July 24, 2016, 12:51:57 PM by John »
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #40 on: July 24, 2016, 12:51:17 PM »
Ellie’ dad dodges jail with suspended sentence



BY Carrie-Marie Bratley, In Algarve.
21 July 2016

An Algarve businessman accused of kidnapping his dual-nationality daughter has avoided jail after being handed a suspended prison sentence.



Filipe Silva stood accused of kidnapping his Irish-Portuguese daughter in 2012, after refusing to hand her back to her mother or disclose the girl’s whereabouts for several months. He unlawfully withheld his then seven-year-old daughter Giselle – widely referred to in the media as Ellie – from her British-Irish mother, Candice Gannon, for six months, spanning September 2012 to February 2013, ignoring a court order instructing her immediate return in the process.

In the several months of her absence, the child is believed to have lived with her father in Porto, and he allegedly limited contact between Ellie and her mother. Ellie was eventually returned to Candice in February 2013 by her paternal grandmother after Filipe Silva was detained by PJ police.

Silva was last week sentenced to a two-and-a-half-year suspended prison sentence for his actions and also ordered to pay €17,500 in compensation. Judge Joaquim Cruz, who headed proceedings, said Silva had acted with intent but justified the suspended sentence because the father had not shown any behaviour that indicated he would take the girl again after her return. Conceding that he understood the father’s motives, he warned “this should not be done to a child” and in this case, “the parents were the children and the child was the adult.”

Silva’s defence argued the businessman acted out of desperation, alleging he feared his daughter was going to be taken to Ireland to live and claimed the child had said she did not want to go. Through the trial the defence has said Silva’s actions should be interpreted as breach of a court order, and not kidnapping.

Speaking after the sentencing, prosecuting lawyer Spencer Dohner said he considered the outcome fair, given the legal framework for kidnapping crimes. “For seven months the child could not live her life as normal, she couldn’t see her mother, go to school, be with family and friends, or experience any of the things that are normal for any child and she will suffer the consequences of this for the rest of her life”, he said.

Ellie currently resides in Ireland with her mother, stepfather and half-siblings; Silva has visitation rights.

http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/ellie-dad-dodges-jail-with-suspended-sentence/38928
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.

Offline John

Re: Algarve businessman to stand trial after fleeing with daughter.
« Reply #41 on: December 28, 2016, 01:22:47 AM »
Ellie kidnap case: 2½ years 'suspended sentence' for Filipe Silva




14 July 2016

The case involving Vilamoura businessman Filipe Silva, who kidnapped his daughter Ellie in 2012 after a period of parental access, is over.

Silva today received a 2½ year suspended sentence and has been ordered to pay compensation of €7,000 to Ellie's mother, Candice Gannon, and €9,000 to his own daughter for the distress caused by his actions.

Silva's abduction of his daughter Ellie sparked a nationwide police search which led finally to an apartment in Oporto and Silva's arrest on charges of kidnap.

The leniency of today's judgement has left Ellie’s mother, Candice Gannon, disgusted with the Portuguese justice system when it comes to child kidnapping and appalled at the insulting level of compensation for the substantial pain, suffering and distress Filipe Silva has caused her and her family.

Silva faced up to ten years in jail, but has run rings around the court and legal system while endeavouring to present himself as the aggrieved party.

The level of collusion within the Portuguese legal system to help Silva has been shocking.

Not only was a court official feeding Silva information about the kidnap hunt after Ellie had been abducted in 2012, Silva’s lawyer was fully aware of Ellie’s whereabouts but did nothing to alert the authorities despite a desperate nationwide search being underway. 

Filipe Silva, a well-off Vilamoura businessman, failed to pay a cent in child support and in court a witness claimed Silva had abducted his own daughter ‘out of desperation’ as he did not want Ellie to move to Ireland.

Ellie’s mother, Candice Gannon, has custody of her daughter. Her family life is in Ireland so it seems sensible that her daughter lives there too and there was never any suggestion that Silva's parental access would be denied.

Silva ended up receiving legal aid with the taxpayer paying his legal fees.

Ellie’s mother said by video-link from Ireland during Silva’s trial that her daughter was "deeply marked by the period in which she was held by her natural father in Oporto, was undergoing daily therapy and has been suffering from anxiety with troubled sleep and low self-confidence.”

Candice Gannon today hit out, “This sentence comes as no surprise to me. I have learned to expect very little justice from Faro courts”

“Thankfully Ellie is safe and well and very happy living in a country that believes in enforcing the law.”

Another father in a high-profile Algarve kidnapping is Paulo Guiomar, who received a sentence of three years in prison having been remanded in custody due to the seriousness of the charges. Filipe Silva was at liberty before his trial and remains so.

Ellie’s mother today commented further, "I am disgusted by the leniency of this sentence.  The Algarve is well known for not taking child kidnapping too seriously”

“Despite the disgraceful decision to suspend this sentence, we are very pleased that this ordeal is finally over and we are looking forward to going back to enjoying our family life in Ireland where child protection is taken somewhat more seriously.”

“Needless to say we are raging with the leniency of this sentence, but we sort of knew all along that they would let him away with it.”

Filipe Silva failed to show up in court to hear his sentence. Instead, he sent in a sick note.

http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/9371-ellie-kidnap-case-2-years-suspended-sentence-for-filipe-silva
A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. An exposé of egregious malfeasance by public officials.
Indeed, the truth never changes with the passage of time.