Les MC arrivent à Lisbonne le 09 mars, apparemment pour prendre connaissance des informations rassemblées à Portimão par la PJ après le classement de l'enquête (2,000 pages de signalements) et être interviewés par SIC, RTP and 24horas.
Les MC à Lisbonne
09.03.2010 - Sandra Felgueiras (RTP1)
Sandra Felgueiras : Hi Kate. Hi Gerry. Errr... Have you already had access to the new sightings that were released last week?
Gerald MC : We've now got them, errm... but, as I say, Kate and I haven't actually, errr... gone through them ourselves. (1)
SF : You have watched, for sure, the picture, errr... that has been broadcast last week in... by British media, errr... of, errr... apparently, errr... a girl looking like Madeleine, in New Zealand. As parents, did that girl look like Madeleine to you?
Kate MC : You know, she's not dissimilar to Madeleine. I actually thought she maybe looked a little bit young but, as you know, that little girl has been identified now anyway, so we know it's not Madeleine.
SF : Kate, as a mum, have you ever seen any picture, any video, that for you it could be Madeleine?
KMC : No. (laughs) Errm... To be honest we don't get shown a lot of the photographs anyway, errm... I think the police decided that there's... there's so many photographs that get sent to them and, you know, clips of CCTV that it's... (2)
Gerald MC : We've now got them, errm... but, as I say, Kate and I haven't actually, errr... gone through them ourselves. (1)
SF : You have watched, for sure, the picture, errr... that has been broadcast last week in... by British media, errr... of, errr... apparently, errr... a girl looking like Madeleine, in New Zealand. As parents, did that girl look like Madeleine to you?
Kate MC : You know, she's not dissimilar to Madeleine. I actually thought she maybe looked a little bit young but, as you know, that little girl has been identified now anyway, so we know it's not Madeleine.
SF : Kate, as a mum, have you ever seen any picture, any video, that for you it could be Madeleine?
KMC : No. (laughs) Errm... To be honest we don't get shown a lot of the photographs anyway, errm... I think the police decided that there's... there's so many photographs that get sent to them and, you know, clips of CCTV that it's... (2)
SF : Do you fear that the re-opening of the case, that you wish can re-open the leads, that turn you as formal suspects in the case? Do you think about it?
GMC : Definitely not. It is not the slightest piece of concern for us.
SF : I don't know if you are aware that... that, errr... that in Portugal we have a 12-years, errr... old boy missing. What do you have to say to this parents?
KMC : Don't give up hope, keep going, don't let others try and grind you down, keep going for your child and you must keep going until they're found. And good luck.
GMC : The biggest fear for us is that it puts Madeleine in danger, errr... I think there are many... (3)
KMC : Or makes the chances of... of... of us finding her much more difficult.
SF : When you think about dangers, what kind of things do you think about?
GMC : It's very difficult, isn't it? In terms of, errm... because until you know who's taken her, you've no idea, and there's been many different scenarios, errr... by which children are taken and have been held for very long periods of time, including years, and to the outward world they seem to be living a normal life. ???? I think with a... a young child, in particular, the chances of taking them to, errr... a new environment and they're... and adapting is greater. (4)
SF : You confess that you think that some of these leads should have been better investigated. But last week, errr... the Portuguese Public General Attorney said that all the leads that were recently, errr... reported to the PJ after July 2008, errr... were totally investigated and none... none was sufficiently reliable to reopen the case. Why do you think that the General Public Attorney would say that if, errr... this wasn't true?
GMC : The first thing we have to do is to... to look at the information but, from what we have seen so far, is, the same thing has been written about each individual piece of information and there is no evidence of the... in the information that has been disclosed but, you know, it's not acceptable to parents of a missing child for everything to be discounted. You know, it doesn't matter what the information, it's just discounted, and that is not acceptable and if it's better for us as a family for the file to be open then that... that's what we'll press for. (5)
SF : From all that have been talked, errr... through all this time, there's any that touched you most, that you kept thinking about it, could have been her?
GMC : I mean the things that, errr... are the most obvious are the sightings on the night of a... a child being carried; two separate things in Praia da Luz, errm... but since then I don't think there's been anything, errm... that I've really... there's been one or two I've looked at twice.
SF : Can you tell me which were they?
SF : Can you tell me which were they?
GMC : Can't remember the specific, errr...
KMC : There was one, wasn't there? Errr... I don't know if that was Amsterdam or Brussels
GMC : Errr... There was one like that.
KMC : And that was what, we had to look at it a few... (6)
(1) Le moins que l'on puisse dire est qu'ils ne semblent guère pressés..
(2) Leurs campagnes ont pour effet unique de susciter une avalanche de signalements fantaisistes, qui leur sont épargnés, cela expliquant ceci.
(3) C'est bien la première fois que Gerald MC exprime un doute ! Quid du "marketing ploy" que constituait le colobome de sa fille ?
(4) Il est possible que cela se produise dans le cas d'un nourrisson volé/adopté, mais il n'y a aucun exemple d'enfant de 3/4 ans se développant normalement après avoir été arraché à une famille aimante.
(5) Aucune information sérieuse n'a été portée à l'attention du Procureur mais Gerald considère qu'il n'est pas acceptable que les informations ne leur parviennent pas, alors qu'ils ont ri lorsque SF leur a demandé si une fois un signalement leur avait fait battre le coeur et ont d'ailleurs remarqué qu'il était rare qu'on les alerte, les signalement étant tous plus loufoques les uns que les autres.
(6) Ils n'ont vraiment pas l'air d'attendre quoi que ce soit des signalements..
Les MC à Lisbonne
09.03.2010 - Sara de Oliveira (SIC)
Sara Antunes de Oliveira : You're talking about, a lot of times, of that new information, new leads, new pictures. Can you tell us something about that? What kind of information?
Gerald MC : Kate and I haven't gone through all the information. Errr... We know that it's predominantly sightings, errm... from many different places around the world, errr... but including sightings from Spain and Portugal.
SAO : And that information still isn't enough for you to ask for the re-opening of the case here in Portugal?
Kate MC : I think we need to go through it all first of all and organise it, really, and then we can get a file... a document together, errm... to present.
SAO : What are you doing to re-open the case?
GMC : Well, the first thing that has been done is that the... the information is only just been passed on to, errr... Dave Edgar, our investigation officer, and he will look at all of the information, the leads, or this... potential sightings and other information and analyse it and see what information he can, errr... take from it, applying the same principles he does to anyone who contacts us directly with information. (1)
SAO : Don't you fear that if the case is re-opened you might be considered suspects again?
KMC : It's never even crossed my mind and I think anybody who went through that file and has a certain amount of logic will know that it's ridiculous. I don't have any fear of that.
SAO : This is not the first time, errr... where you say that some leads, that some pictures, that some witnesses were not valued by the Portuguese police and you think they are relevant and important?
KMC : We can't comment too much on what's in this file of information we've just got because we haven't been through it thoroughly. What we do know is that very credible information has been passed on and our investigators have got 30 years plus experience and would only pass on credible information 'cause there's no point otherwise, and we haven't had any feedback from that. So, based on that, I feel more could have been done for those leads, which is still waiting to be acted on, errm... but our investigators obviously can't do that themselves, we need cooperation. Can't comment on what's on... in the file that's just been released. (2)
GMC : I think, you know, I'll go back to your question, we're not sitting here saying the PJ are doing a rubbish job; we're not saying that. Errr... A lot of good work has been done. We know, particularly in the early days, that we got a much more substantial search than many other people who've lost children, errm... and we appreciate that, and we appreciate the hard work. Obviously, we're still in the stage where Madeleine is missing; whoever's taken her is still out there and we need to find Madeleine and the perpetrators need to be caught and as parents it's not good enough for us that information is discounted. The specific point is, really, that you have an officer who's testified in court that he believes that Madeleine is dead, errr... who is primarily responsible for recording that information. I don't think he's objective in his work and that is one of the things that has been very difficult for us. (3)
SAO : Do you want him to be removed from the case?
GMC : Well, you know, obviously that's not for out judgement, errr... but what we need to know is that there is someone objectively looking at the information.
SAO : Do you fear... you won your first court case against Gonçalo Amaral, do you fear that with all the cases, the court cases you have against him, some people might think that it became an obsession for you?
GMC : It's an obsession for us to find Madeleine, that's, errr... certainly true, errm... the court case is very important, I think, because we can understand why a large proportion of the population here would be prepared to believe that Madeleine was dead and I think challenging what has been said and making it be put up to scrutiny and the lack of objectivity of what has been proposed and the lack of evidence. (4)
SAO : Do you understand the people that think that rather strange that you spend a lot of energy and emotional resources in this court cases, errm... against Gonçalo Amaral when your grief and your loss is much bigger than anything else?
KMC : The sad thing about all this court case is, it was uneccessary. It's caused us extra pain and suffering and resources. You know, the last thing we wanted to do was have to be in a court case but Gonçalo Amaral did what he did. We totally believe it's damaged the search for our little girl and we have to do everything in our power to find her, so he has made us take this action because we love our little girl and we want to find her. That's why we've done what we've done. (5)
SAO : Do you consider the posibility of, errm... Madeleine not being alive?
KMC : Well, obviously there's a possibility because we don't know, errm... you know, we're not gonna sit here and lie and be totally naive and say: "She's 100% alive" but we do know there's a very good chance she's alive and while that chance is there we have to keep looking for her. We owe that... we all owe that to Madeleine; she's a little girl, you know, and we know from other cases, you know, there's a chance she's alive, so you have to keep going.
(1) Comme si la PJ ne faisait rien et comme si ils avaient leurs sources propres.
(2) Elle ne peut rien dire par ignorance du dossier, sauf que les informations sont très crédibles, selon "leurs" enquêteurs très expérimentés, et auraient dû être signalées.
(3) C'est comme si, soudain, Gerald MC prenait conscience que des téléspectateurs portugais risquent d'être choqués par tant de dénigrement de leur police. Il faut donc que les prédateurs soient attrapés. Il n'est pas exact qu'un officier de police (en l'occurrence Ricardo Paiva) ait déclaré croire que Madeleine est morte. Ricardo a parlé des conclusions de l'équipe dont il faisait partie.
(4) Que dirait Gerald MC si on lui demandait quels sont les indices d'enlèvement ?
(5) Ce procès n'était pas nécessaire, il leur a causé de la souffrance, il leur a coûté, mais l'initiative revient à Gonçalo Amaral qui a fait ce qu'il a fait... et en particulier il a réduit à néant la recherche des parents alors qu'ils faisaient tout pour trouver leur petite fille. Donc ils ont traduit en justice GA parce qu'ils aiment leur petite fille et veulent la trouver.
Il n'y a personne comme les MC pour dire et faire en sorte que rien ne soit jamais de leur faute. C’est toujours vous le problème, toujours la faute des autres.
