The arrest of siblings João and Leonor CiprianoPress report Thursday 23 September 2004.
Mother sleeps at PJLeonor Cipriano, the mother of the little Joana (8), missing since 12 September from Figueira, Portimão, remained all day yesterday in the Faro Directorate of the Judiciary Police (PJ), where she spent the night on Tuesday, being heard by the inspectors of the Regional Chamber Against Banditry (SRCB). Her house was, however, the target of a police search. At the premises of the PJ were still three relatives of his wife and a friend. All this on the day that the father of Joanna announced to the CM that he will take custody of the child. Despite the presence of women in that Directory, Faro PJ refused yesterday to confirm or deny her eventual arrest, although Leonor is already with investigators since Tuesday morning, initially at the PJ in Portimão and later in Faro, where she was conducted the night before last. To that Directorate she moved hours later, to be heard by the inspectors, also the father-in-law and a brother of Leonor, and Joana's stepfather and a friend of the family, but only the woman stayed on site.
Yesterday morning Leonor was escorted by two SRCB elements to her home in Figueira, where a police search was carried out with a view to eventual collection of evidence to help the investigation. About an hour after, Leonor returned to the car of the PJ, whose inspectors have told the family that she would be taken to a safe place in order to avoid possible clashes with angry locals. This or any other reason lead to PJ to require the presence of thecwomen. Nothing was, however, confirmed by the Police.
FATHER ASKS for CUSTODY
The father of Joanna will ask for custody of his daughter when she is found, he told the Correio da Manhã. Paulo Jorge Guerreiro who admits to not having had contact with his daughter since she and her mother moved to Figueira, about a year ago, believes that the former, Leonor Cipriano, didn't have due care with the minor: "I think, if the mother was careful, she wouldn't have sent the girl alone shopping at that time of night", criticized Paulo Guerreiro. Hopeful in reunion with Joana, the father is "preoccupied" with her disappearance and recalls the moments he shared with his daughter: "she always spends the holidays with me and last time I went to pick her up she no longer lived there. I was unable to contact my daughter and her mother. I just learned of her whereabouts when Leonor gave me the news of the disappearance. She asked me if I had picked up the girl and I told her no. Whenever I'd pick her up her mother would say that she had custody of our daughter and that I was never to take her without her knowledge ", says Paulo Guerreiro, who intends to ask his guard so that the judicial police (PJ) can retrieve her.
FIREMEN IN SEARCHES
The volunteer firefighters of Portimão were yesterday asked to cooperate in the search for Joana, the girl who disappeared on 12 September, which ended yesterday evening with no results. The request came from the PJ and the GNR, and firefighters were ordered to reinforce police forces that rely on specially prepared dogs for searches of living beings or corpses. Five volunteers from Portimão participated in the operations and covered a vast area of forest around the village of Figueira, where the missing child lived.
The investigation saw the addition of another force with the entry into the field of Regional Chamber against Banditry from the PJ Directorate in Faro. Interpol and Europol have already been informed of the disappearance, which suggests a situation associated with a foreign country.
www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/mae-dorme-na-pj.html
