Press report dated Thursday 30 September 2004.
I did everything I could for my ladybug (ladybird)By one of the people who best knew Joana. Who better to understand. She was also one of the few who tried to help. The first teacher of the ghtml
from Figueira still feels a lump in her throat when she speaks of her "Ladybug". "I did everything I could for her," she told the Correio da Manhã with words full of emotion.
She's the one who addressed to the Commander of the National Republican Guard (GNR) in Lagos, a "request for location" of Joana. It was she too who earlier warned Social Services that she was sick "and needed someone to accompany her ". Joana had pneumonia and no one to care for her. "If the mother had given her food let alone antibiotics," adds the teacher. At the time the Commission for the Protection of Minors in Lagos was alerted to her plight. But like its counterpart in Portimão, they also did not consider that Joana was at risk.
In spite of this, her time spent at Alporchinhos Primary School, Porches, Lagos municipality, was perhaps the happiest in the? life of Joana. "She loved to be here. The school was a world for her", recalls the teacher. Nothing more natural since she lived in a ruined shack, abandoned by all and for all. Nothing more natural since, at least, the school had a roof, and a world of affection. "She was sometimes a sad girl because she wanted a house. She was longing for a home. She only made drawings of houses ", stresses. At this point Joana lived in Vale do Olival and every day had to walk about two kilometres to the school. "When it rained or was bad weather she didn't arrive," recalls the teacher.
It was the second year however that shortages began to be more frequent. It was shortly after her mother vanished without a trace. "The mother was absent, I don't know where, and left Joana at the home of a neighbour. But during that time Joana still came to school, "he stresses. And he adds: "A social worker had to go just to see what was going on". In the end, Leonor Cipriano returned to her man, and Joana stopped attending school. It was then that the teacher sent the "location request" to the Commander of the GNR. Days after she received the following reply. "They told me that her mother promised to come to school to deal with the transfer of the child". And so it was.
The teacher doesn't believe that the mother could have killed little Joana. "I don't think she ever hit her," confesses. But she refuses to have the same confidence in the brothers of Leonor. Having said that highlights what is touted as one of the major personality traits of Leonor – the neglect towards the children. "It was Joana who turned on the question of food and clothing," she said..
Now the primary school teacher of Alporchinhos prefers to remember the sweet and docile girl. Her "Ladybug" as she called her. The girl who never got into fights and loved playing with dolls. The girl who liked school because the school was the best that the world could offer her.
Even so, Joana continues every day to come through the door of the school. She comes at the hands of her former classmates who at home consume the overdose of news about this case. "They see her photo on TV and then they come to school to ask questions," says the teacher. What questions? "Like, where is Joana? What happened to Joana ", responds to a teacher. And she adds: "you know she was a cherished by everyone."
In Alporchinhos elementary school still nobody forgets little Joana. The teacher does all she can to distract the attention of the children. If only because a brother of Joana still attends that school. But also because she fears that her former classmates will be affected forever. "I should have here a psychologist to help me," she complained. But nobody remembered it.
NOTESBODY
Searches to find the body of little Joana have been developed over the last two days, sometimes less than visible. According to one source contacted by the CM, the PJ were yesterday at a Western Algarve sanitary landfill site situated in the municipality of Portimão, in order to inspect the garbage from the village of Figueira. Suggesting the possibility of violence and that the girl's body was placed in a dumpster.
SADNESS
The stepfather's family of Joanna ensures that the girl, "was very sad on the afternoon of the day of her disappearance". According to Sara Silva, Leandro's sister, "was the birthday of my niece, but, despite being a feast day, she was distant. I asked her what was wrong and if she wanted to go home. Answered no. However, her mother came and said that "she was going home, because the uncle was there and they were going to the Cockle Festival".
STAINS
One of the issues that arises in this case is to know how it was possible for the PJ to come to the conclusion that there was a crime. Well, apart from the testimony of the alleged involved, laboratory technicians of scientific police discovered traces of blood stains in the house and have been examining DNA, which it is feared related to Joana. Also discovered are traces of blood on a mop.
www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/fiz-tudo-o-que-pude-pela-minha-joaninha.html16
