Other children abused by intruders before Madeleine's abduction

[Mrs. B]

Why the pretense that child abuse doesn't happen in Portugal?
http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/repcard5e.pdf

Five nations – Belgium, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Hungary,
and France – have levels of child maltreatment deaths that are four to
six times higher than the average for the leading countries.Three
countries – the United States, Mexico, and Portugal – have rates that
are between 10 and 15 times higher than the average for the leading
countries (Figure 1b)

Not exactly impressive.

[Mrs. B]

The attacks are:


APRIL 14, 2004: Praia do Carvoeiro, Lagoa, 20 miles from Praia da Luz (PDA). sex assault on 10-year-old girl.


JUNE 9 2005: Sao Rafael, near Sesmarias, 50 miles from PDA. sex assault on nine-year-old girl.


JUNE 2 2006: Praia do Carvoeiro, Lagoa, 20 miles from PDA. sex assault on seven-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister in separate rooms.


OCTOBER 29 2006: Albufeira, 45 miles from PDA. sex assault on eight-year-old girl


CHRISTMAS DAY, 2006: Silves, 35 miles from PDA. Attempted abduction of three-year-old girl.


MAY 28 2007: Albufeira. 45 miles from PDA. Intruder disturbed at the bottom of nine-year-old girl's bed.


Edgar told us: "Some of the attacks were in the files and some were in other documents that were not terribly obvious. Again I am subject to the frailties of the Portuguese authorities and have to work with what I have been given. I have tried to build bridges with them but have had no response. But we have access to other files that have not been released to the public and the media."

So "sceptics" - is Dave Edgar making it all up?  Is he in on it too?

Along with Scotland Yard then, as they have had access to all the info collected by the McCanns' PIs - but of course, Scotland Yard have already declared that they are of the opinion that Madeleine WAS abducted by a stranger.

[AnneGuedes]

Logically either SY took the option to assume Madeleine was abducted, differing from Magalhães e Menezes, either SY, as tradition requires, rejected any belief a priori, in which case spending tax payers' money would be, after a reasonable time, close to high way robbery. Hence the escape ahead.
All this imo of course ;)

[Redblossom]

You can't help but smile wryly at those "sceptics" who can see absolutely no relevance between break-ins of holiday apartments on the Algarve where kids have been molested and the abduction of Madeleine McCann. The fact that the other children weren't abducted is possibly down to the intruder having been discovered and interrupted, or not having yet plucked up the nerve to abduct  or not having put a plan in place to do so, but oh no - not relevant whatsoever.  You remind me of Amaral and his cronies who dismissed sightings and witness statements as "not relevant" without so much as a second's thought it seems. 

You are free to make the link if you think there is any, and speculate over the facts, people are entitled to not to, as where is any evidence whatsoever that does link them? As said previously any extreme tenative link made in this case runs into the hundreds, that is so totally unrealistic. As for not giving it more than a seconds thought, rather exagerrating there arent we?

[Benice]

Extract from Kate's book:

One of the most concerning and upsetting pieces of information to emerge (from the release of the files) quite early was the record of sexual crimes against children in the Algarve.

The discovery made me feel physically sick. I read of five cases of British children on holiday being sexually abused in their beds while their parents slept in another room.

In three further incidents, children encountered an intruder in their bedrooms, who were presumably disturbed before he had the chance to carry out these assaults.

I guessed these were the reports that Bill Henderson had told me about. These incidents had occurred within an hour's drive of Praia da Luz over the three years prior to Madeleine's disappearance. The PJ had never mentioned any of them to us. In fact, I gathered from the files, some hadn't even been recorded by the authorities.

So they might never have come to light if the parents of these children hadn't been brave enough to come forward to the British police after Madeleine was taken and relive their nightmares.


They did so in the belief there could be a link between what happened to their children and what happened to her.

It broke my heart to read the terrible accounts of these devastated parents and the experience of their poor children.

....

The parents had called the police. They hadn't felt that the crime was taken seriously by the police or by their tour operators. Statements were often not taken. DNA and finger print evidence was frequently not sought. In most instances there was no sign of a break in.

I cried for hours after reading a letter of complaint from one mother regarding the sexual abuse of her daughter and the lack of proper attention paid to it.

The final line in particular has haunted me ever since:

"It is difficult to see with this lack of investigation or interest how a profile of this man can be built up. It did not appear to us that there was any great incentive or determination to find the offender and bring him to justice. Furthermore, it could all have been so much worse...indeed this man could go on to do much worse to another child if he's not stopped now".

Six months later, our beloved Madeleine was grabbed from her bed. Of course, none of these children was abducted and these crimes may be completely unrelated to what happened to Madeleine. We do not know who has taken our daughter and for what purpose.

What these cases do demonstrate, however, is that British tourists in holiday accomodation were being targeted. At the very least, the possibility of a link between these incidents and Madeleine's disappearance should have been investigated.

It is so hard not to scream ffrom the rooftops about how these crimes appear to have been brushed under the carpet.

The authorities have known of them for a long time and yet the perpetrators as far as the families are aware, remain free. Children are involved and they need to be protected.

What is disturbing is your lack of common sense to use an excerpt of a romanced book as a quote to alarm people.
There were never any cases with kids as described by that creature.

Jezzzzzz, you are all too crazy to be true!

So do you think Bill Henderson, the British Consul in the Algarve was lying about these cases?  And if so - why?
 

[Redblossom]

Bill Henderson was there in the early days, why was no mention of this made by the Mccanns until years later then?

[AnneGuedes]

So do you think Bill Henderson, the British Consul in the Algarve was lying about these cases?  And if so - why?
 

Benice, what do you think this means ? " In fact, I gathered from the files, some hadn't even been recorded by the authorities."

[Redblossom]

No one is going to sue KM if she embroiders any truth in her book, which gives her carte blanche to say whatever she wanted, half truth half not,  to the hoi polloi IMO, if not on this issue certainly on plenty of others,good nite

[AnneGuedes]

Let's find these reports and then discuss them, Martha.
6 Janeiro 2010 - sex assault on a 2 months old boy, 500 m from PDL. Too much or not enough?

[icabodcrane]

So do you think Bill Henderson, the British Consul in the Algarve was lying about these cases?  And if so - why?
 

Benice, what do you think this means ? " In fact, I gathered from the files, some hadn't even been recorded by the authorities."

It might be useful to debate if we have the full and complete quote from  Kate's book :

"In fact, I gathered from the files, some of them hadn't even been recorded by the authorities at the time they were reported (evidently they were not considered to be actual crimes ). So they might never have come to light if the parents of these children hadn't been brave enough to come forward to the British police after Madeleine was taken and relive their nightmares"

[AnneGuedes]

Where are the files concerning cases which were reported to the authorities and registered ? They're not in the McCann case files. And where are the files concerning cases which were reported to the authorities but not registered ? In which British files are they ?

[Chinagirl]

As to be expected, the Portugal apologists are in complete denial about these intruders abusing children.  Rather than recognise that these things happened and were not properly investigated, much easier to claim that Kate is lying, and implying that Bill Henderson is lying too.

Shameful.
 

[AnneGuedes]

As to be expected, the Portugal apologists are in complete denial about these intruders abusing children.  Rather than recognise that these things happened and were not properly investigated, much easier to claim that Kate is lying, and implying that Bill Henderson is lying too.

Shameful.

Could you provide evidence of Portuguese authorities neglecting to investigate criminals of abuse on children, please, before accusing them ? Unless of course this wouldn't be fair according to the values of your culture.

[Benice]

As to be expected, the Portugal apologists are in complete denial about these intruders abusing children.  Rather than recognise that these things happened and were not properly investigated, much easier to claim that Kate is lying, and implying that Bill Henderson is lying too.

Shameful.

Could you provide evidence of Portuguese authorities neglecting to investigate criminals of abuse on children, please, before accusing them ? Unless of course this wouldn't be fair according to the values of your culture.

Can you provide evidence that the sexual assaults against their children,  reported to them by British parents were investigated properly?

Why would a letter of complaint be sent to the GNR by one of these parents, and why would those parents come forward to the Leicester police if they were satisfied that what happened to their children was properly dealt with by the Portuguese Authorities?     The truth is they came forward because they were disgusted with the lack of interest and lack of action shown by those Authorities.

[Benice]

Logically either SY took the option to assume Madeleine was abducted, differing from Magalhães e Menezes, either SY, as tradition requires, rejected any belief a priori, in which case spending tax payers' money would be, after a reasonable time, close to high way robbery. Hence the escape ahead.
All this imo of course ;)

SY studied the evidence first and came to a conclusion - unlike Amaral who came to a conclusion first and then tried to fit the evidence to suit it.