Tuesday 22 April 2008

A parent's worst nightmare: Are child abductions on the rise?

As this is an older text, I have abridged it slightly. The facts remain the same!

By Steve IrsayCourt TV

First, it was the faces. Smiling in school photos and candid family snapshots, they were splashed across breaking reports and front pages around the country. Then, the names: Danielle, Elizabeth, Samantha, Erica. Their stories were painfully familiar.

The recent highly publicized cases of abducted little girls, from California to Philadelphia, seem to suggest that the insidious crime of child abduction and murder is on the rise.

But while the stories have recently dominated cable news coverage and have been splashed across the front pages, the cases of Danielle, Elizabeth and the others remain the exceptions in child abductions, according to researchers and advocates.

It's every parent's worst fear: a dangerous stranger snatches their child. However, the vast majority of missing children are not kidnapped at all. They are runaways and throwaways, kids who leave and don't come back or are told not to come back, according to a 1990 study by the U.S. Justice Department. Of the remaining cases that are considered abductions, some 350,000 each year, are committed by family members as part of a custody dispute.

In a country with some 59 million children, abductions by a stranger are perhaps the most terrifying of crimes. But they are also the rarest. There are about 114,600 such stranger abductions attempted each year, and about 3,200 to 4,600 or around 4 percent, are successful, according to the study.

Of those, an even smaller fraction, about 200 to 300, are what the FBI calls "stereotypical" kidnappings, where a child is gone overnight, transported over some distance, intended to be kept by the perpetrator or even killed. These incidents make up far less than 1 percent of the total stranger abductions.

The numbers of these cases are small and getting smaller despite the recent publicized incidents, according to FBI statistics. In 2001, agents investigated 93 cases of abduction by someone outside the family. That is a decline from the 115 cases reported in 1998, when such statistics were first kept.

The recent media attention (...) has heightened the public awareness of child abductions even though most experts agree there is no current epidemic. Some suggest that while the number of cases may not have changed, their nature has and this shift has drawn the extra attention.
"They are quite brazen and that is a different kind of perpetrator than the kind that tries to get close to the family," said Nancy McBride, director of prevention education for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, referring to the man who snatched Elizabeth Smart from her bedroom, and Alejandro Avila, the man accused of kidnapping Samantha Runnion, 5, her yard, and killing her.

"They were in their own homes and that is as gut-wrenching as it gets." Danielle van Dam, 7, was also snatched from her bedroom, while Erica Pratt, also 7, was grabbed off a street corner.
Advocates for missing children would like to see all cases get the attention that these high-profile incidents have but say they understand the types of decisions that leave the vast majority of abduction cases relatively unnoticed.

"News directors are first and foremost looking for news," Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, told Court TV. "So if you look at the recent cases that have gotten so much attention ... those children disappeared from their homes and their own beds. It is a scenario that absolutely terrifies every parent. Thus, it's news."
Andrew Tyndall, a media researcher, disagrees.

"There have always been a few of these stories that had a special thing about them," said Tyndall, citing the beauty pageant video footage that helped to make the mysterious 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey a highly visual, and thereby, high-profile story.

"I don't see the hook in either [the Smart or the Runnion] cases to elevate them. It is not that there is a national epidemic. These are the sort of stories that would not traditionally be network stories but would be local stories."

Yet, these stories were elevated to the national stage. That was not the case for three recent and similar abductions.

In March 2002, 13-year-old Laura Ayala was reported missing after she left her Houston home to buy a newspaper at a nearby gas station. Only her shoes were found. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tried to draw attention to the case but with little success.

The next month, Jahi Turner, a 2-year-old boy, disappeared while playing at a park in San Diego, the same city where Danielle van Dam was abducted and killed. In May, Alexis Patterson, 7, disappeared on her way to school in Milwaukee.

None of the cases garnered prominent national play. Ayala is Hispanic and Turner and Patterson are both black, raising the question of whether race or social class help determine which cases get media attention.

"It pains me, as a black man, a black journalist and as a journalist," Will Sutton, deputy managing editor of the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., and former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, told the Los Angeles Times. "Because for me, it's a matter of accuracy, balance and fairness as well as completeness."

Other news executives refute claims of bias, citing the circumstances of each case as the determining factors.

While a lack of national exposure strikes some as unfair, keeping kidnapping stories local may actually be beneficial, according to child advocate Marc Klaas.

"All kidnappings are local events," said Klaas, who founded the Klaas Kids Foundation after his 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped and murdered in 1993. "You don't turn your back on your local media in an attempt to get more national publicity. As good as he is, Larry King is not going to be around when your story stops making headlines."

In his opinion, the headlines are not based on race or class but on the actual stories that prompt them, and these, he says, can be kept newsworthy with a little effort. Klaas and other advocates often counsel families of missing kids on how to effectively keep their stories and searches alive through the media even when the initial interest has died down.

"It is up to the families to keep people invested in the recovery effort of the kids," Klaas said. "You need a story that is compelling and a child that's compelling and those children can be made compelling through a variety of anecdotes and pictures. You can get that in any language and any color."

McBride even claims to offer families a sort of "P.R. 101 class" in their time of need.
"We tell parents that the media is their best friend when their child is missing," she said. "Many do not have a frame of reference on how to do this. We try to help them understand the system. Nobody gets the word out quicker than the media."

Authorities are sensitive to the fact that time is critical in investigating abduction cases. Too often, however, it is their worst enemy.

A study by the state of Washington found that in nearly three quarters of the cases of children who are abducted and murdered, the victims are killed within the first three hours. Also, in more than half of the 200 to 300 so-called "stereotypical kidnappings" each year, the children are either killed or never found.

But there are sometimes uplifting exceptions to the grim endings.

In 2002, Erica Pratt was grabbed, kicking and screaming, from the street corner in front of her Philadelphia home by two men who then sped away with her in a car. At a time of heightened attention to such cases, it sounded eerily similar to the Samantha Runnion abduction a week earlier in California.

However, this case had a happy ending. On Tuesday, the girl gnawed through the duct tape that kept her bound in a dirty basement for nearly 24 hours and escaped through a window to safety.
A Philadelphia police inspector said the dramatic escape shows that Erica's a "remarkable little person."

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/07/24/ctv.missing/

99 comments:

Hypocrites said...

Good morning Sass and lurkers

A good post, Sass, but depressing too in terms of finding Madeleine.
The incidence of stranger abduction may be low but it isn't nil. For any INDIVIDUAL parent the odds are very low -- but the odds of it happening SOMEWHERE on any given day are very high. So there is always someone somewhere asking in bewilderment 'why us?'

Unless you keep your child wrapped in cotton wool, sleeping in the same room, escorted every step of the way to school or to the park, the answer is 'why not?'

It may have been Kiwigirl last night (too lazy to look, sorry Kiwi) who said that before the PJ can victimise the McCanns further I think someone high up WILL step in. I hope so anyway.

I'm sure you'll keep unwelcome bloggers at bay today if you can.
I shall ignore them from now on, just as I never visit Vile's. It is truly bad for your health.

x

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Hiya Tulip

The idea of the article was to show exactly what you said - that although most kidnappings aren't carried out by strangers, there still are some. It's not that there's no chance of it happening - it's that the chance is small.

As you say, if someone comes on who bugs you - just pretend they aren't there!

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

By the way, if you look at articles on Danielle Van Dam's abduction, you will see certain similarities to what we believe happened to Madeleine.

joanypony said...

Hi Tulip, Sass,

So glad you decided to stay with us tulip, that low life has to be ignored completely.

Rosie, what do you think of the new avatar, that's the finished portrait, great isn't it?

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Joanypony

This is a picture of your pets?

calcite51 said...

Good morning, Sass and Tulip. Tulip, it's good to see you. Stranger abduction has to be every parents' nightmare. It is thank goodness rare but it is probably isn't any consolation to the parents who's child is abducted by strangers.

calcite51 said...

joanypony -love the avatar!

Jojam said...

Hi All, Sass I'm sure you will delete this..........

Just an observation regarding Bianca's outburst yesterday......

IMO this was caused by tulips 13:56post

Bianca reacted badly as she felt she had been called hysterical & a witch...........

I do not consider this any excuse to behave as she did but Tulip was not blameless............

IMO there is no real room for debate on here because the moment any one says anthing remotely critical of the McCann's or questions anything they are either ridiculed, insulted or deleted..........

As someone who can see errors on both sides I see no point in joining a one sided discussion

I wish you all well.......Try to be nice to others & pray for Madeleine & her Family

joanypony said...

Sass

It is a portrait I have had done of my daughter's pets, as they are getting on Pixie the cat is 20 and Shelby the dog is 11, I thought I would have this done as a gift for her birthday so that she will always have a memento of them.

The artist has made an excellent likeness of them from photos.

joanypony said...

Hi calcite,

Thanks I am delighted with the portrait.

calcite51 said...

Joanypony - what a beautiful and thoughtful present for your daughter.

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Jojam

I have to disagree. People here are deleted when they start insulting others, not because of a different opinion.

Gina, SwedishMum and Isis also post here and are of a different opinion from the majority - they aren't deleted because they don't call people "whores" or "bitches".

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Calcite, Joanypony

It's a great idea. We have a portrait of our first dog - it's great and a brilliant memento of a lovely little animal.

Hypocrites said...

Jojam, I take exception to your post. Because you aren't here regularly you have clearly no idea of the Bianca story.

A week or so ago, I wrote that compassion and understanding are often only achieved through personal experience of pain. I then went on to say I wondered what it would take for Bianca to learn compassion.

She completely misunderstood as she never reads posts properly owing to a short attention span.

She then went ballistic, shrieking that I was a witch (stregga), that I had threatened her children (!) and that she wished me every ill in the world and 'would see me in her dreams' ie a curse).

I deeply resent your ignorant comments and am leaving this blog forthwith.

Thanks all. Good luck.

Jojam said...

Sass,

I think you missed the part of my post that Bianca reacted badly because she felt insulted by tulip calling her hyesterical & witch.........NO Excuse for her behaviour.........but sometimes faults on both sides Just MO......

I find it very sad that people are so badly behaved...........

I have not been a regular poster anywhere........not interested in blog wars just sometimes post my views try to respect others even if I do not agree with them

Have a good day

Hypocrites said...

Oh and Jojam you might consider an apology.

Rosiepops said...

Jojam

Perhaps you would like a copy of the 30 or so rude, disgusting and over the top posts made to Tulip and Sass in a disgracefully sustained attacked that lasted for most of the day and night?

I will say this because they were completely OTT and actually if you had cared to read what tulip had written you would see that Bianca had completely misread something and jumped in with both feet and began a tirade of abuse, tulip did try and explain to her but Bianca did not listen.

There are others on here that do not share the same viewpoint as most of us and they are treated with respect and they are spoken to politely and they are NOT deleted.

Jojam may I respectfully request that you yourself stop passing comment and upsetting the equilibrium of this blog? You have done it again today, yet you yourself are always moaning about blog content o all blogs etc, but fail to see that you yourself are sometimes responsible for it.

calcite51 said...

Tulip - don't leave - Bianca is gone and Jojam - not sure why you would even bring this up today. Bianca attacked Tulip and Sass - there was no excuse for it.

Now, Jojam instead of trying to stir the pot if you would like to make a comment about the article, fine.

Rosiepops said...

Tulip

I hope you do not leave this blog because your contributions are valuable and needed.

With all due respect Jojam does not post regularly, yet when she does it is usually to moan about one blog or the other and to criticize us for something she perceives we are doing wrong.
It seems to me that she takes the moral high ground but completely fails to see that her own actions are at fault.

This blog was running OK and she has come on and completely unsettled it.


Thank you Jojam, I hope you can now see the irony of your own words?

Rosiepops said...

can we ask that we all now try to stay on topic?

Thanks everyone.

Rori Hegarty said...

sassy, if tinkerbell is on later would you ask her to have alook into that crystal ball in her avatar and give me a prediction on the big match tonight pleeese, thank you from a very nervi isis!!!

Rosiepops said...

Hi Isis

Will pass on your message. Tinks may not be around until much later.

Don't worry you will do it. I used to feel like this when England was playing (at least we will all be spared that this summer lol)

Hypocrites said...

You're STILL at it, Jojam. I have always been very patient with people like Bianca -- since you have no idea what went before, you'd do better to keep your 'IMO's' to yourself. You completely ignore the history. The witch term came from Bianca. My use of it was an ironic reminder to her when she started getting bolshy this time. She was the one who insulted me last time and I did not insult her back. Now she comes on, just when I'm alone on the blog. What a coincidence.

Why must I be careful to be nice to Bianca? A shrew who called me a whore, slag, bitch over and over again.

I don't subject myself to the judgment of people like you in my real life and do not propose to do so here.

Are you a retired schoolmarm? Just wondered.

Thanks for the non-apology.

This is definiely my last post on these blogs.

Sorry Rosie, Sass, Tinks, I know you'll understand why. I just don't need this nonsense in my life and don't know why I ever started.

Rosiepops said...

Tulip

Of course we understand. Her post has been deleted.

Just come back from time to time, you will always be welcome. xxx

joanypony said...

Tulip,

Don't you know you are doing exactly what these stirrers want, splitting blogs up, don't give them the satisfaction, DELETE AND IGNORE!!

Rori Hegarty said...

Thanks Rosie, Ireland will be spared also !!

Rosiepops said...

Joany

Good advise, spot on too!



Sod it! Tulip, don't you dare go, come back here now! lol

Who else will keep me in check if you are not around?

Rosiepops said...

Isis

oh dear and Scotland, none of us did very well did we?

never mind, we will make up for it in the next tournament.

calcite51 said...

I agree with joanpony, Tulip - ignore and delete. Remember how Bianca had a go at Diane and that went on for how many days?? It was during a very stressful time for Diane with her little girl going to the hospital.

So, don't give them the satisfaction - take a few days away from us (if you need to).

Rosie, have you heard any news over there about the status of this case and where's it's at.

Rosiepops said...

Joany

They are not worth worrying about, seems they have nothing better to do than surf around the blogs moaning their heads off.

Rosiepops said...

Joajm

yep because of people like you stirring it all up all the time.

You were the cause of the stirring that caused another member to leave a few weeks back.

If that was an apology it was a back handed one!

Now good bye Jojam.

Rosiepops said...

Joany

I have some things I must do now, be back in a couple of hours.

People

If there are any stirring posts, just ignore them do not retaliate they will simply be deleted when I or one of the others come back.

joanypony said...

Rosie,

How do you like the portrait, pretty good eh?

Off for the afternoon run to pick up the 'little darlings' and deposit them back to their parents!

Bye all,

Speak to you later.

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Isis

Hiya
Just got in - will leave a message for Tinks for when she gets in tonight!

How are you doing anyway?

Anonymous said...

Hi Folks if there is anyone there i.e.

I have never been one for statistics, they can be manipulated any which way depending on who is asking/paying for them! Call me cynical but that is how I am. What I will say is that no matter that 'only' 1% are of the total stranger abduction, that means that some parents will be going through the same grief and anxiety that the Mccann's are. To them parents it doesn't matter that they are in the minority only that they are.

IMO this article confirms that the Mccann's were right to invite the media to help search for their daugher Madeleine.As Klass says 'you don't turn your back on the local media in an attempt to get more national coverage'. However, the local media in Madeleine's case was in Portugal and due to their judicial secrecy laws Madeleine was never ever going to get the coverage that was needed in the initial stages in order to find her. The Mccann's had no option but to go national and indeed succeeded in keeping their daughter's disappearance in the public domain as advocated by Klass. All missing and abducted children should be awarded the same, however not all parents have the werewithall to actually carry this through. This is why the initiative of the Amber Alert System in Europe (supported by the Mccann's) is crucial in order to support any family in such a crisis.

Tulip I'm sure you are still reading this site, please reconsider, your viewpoint will be missed.

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Hiya Our 'Ell

Am around indeed!

Anonymous said...

Joanypony, love the avatar, the artist has done a super job.

Isis, as you know I am a Man Utd supporter but will be supporting Liverpool tonight, if only for the reason that they are in the northwest!!!!!LOL

Anonymous said...

Hiya Sass, can't turn my back it seems!!

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

It'd certainly seem that way! You'd just better have no life and hang around here 24/7!

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Apart from that with what you're (not) wearing it's not a good idea to turn your back anyway!

Anonymous said...

Just had the same thought myself Sass!! Makes you wonder why I've never been called a s..... stirrer!

Rori Hegarty said...

sass, im good thanks, just a bity jumpy today !!

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Our 'Ell

What you wrote that all children should have the same chances if they go missing - I totally agree with. I always had to laugh at the comments from the antis saying that the McCanns should think of the other parents whose kids are missing. They were complaining about the media coverage of Madeleine. Now if it was your kid missing and you thought that was the best chance of getting her back, you wouldn't say "no I won't do that just in case someone doesn't like it!".

Jojam said...

Rosie,
you wrote
Joajm

yep because of people like you stirring it all up all the time.

You were the cause of the stirring that caused another member to leave a few weeks back.
..................................
I would appreciate it if you could tell me when I did this, what I said that caused someone to leave?

I am not trying to cause disruption but today is the first occassion where I feel I have caused a problem......which was not my intention & I appologise.

If this post is deleted without you answering, I will conclude that you are mistaken and I have been wrongly accused........

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Our 'Ell - gross joke!!!

Isis - will never understand what the fascination is with football! It must be nice if you like it though - it's on TV non-stop!

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Rosie isn't around.

Jojam said...

Sass,
perhaps you could get her to answer later, I will look back later or you have my email.

Thanks........don't want to start another war so bye!

Rosiepops said...

Jojam

This is the FINAL instalment on this ridiculous farce that you started this morning, there was absolutely no need for it but you did it anyway.

A few weeks ago you were involved in an altercation on here that had a poster leave and I had several emails complaining to me about you. In fairness to you we settled the situation down and gave you the benefit of the doubt. The situation remedied itself. I am not going to name that poster as I do not think it fair or just when they are not here to defend themselves.

Now if you are going to post, can you please stay on topic and post about the topic, or even off topic, if you like, but please do not but into a situation that is being handle by the moderators like you did yesterday which made it worse and indeed you had a hand in escalating it. Today you actually started it and because of you we have lost one of our well respected and valuable posters.

This topic is now closed.

Rosiepops said...

Hi Helen

Just wanted to say that I agree with your post of 14.58 excellent post and excellent article put up today by Sass.

I also want to urge you to please not turn your back a full view of the moon this time of the day would be quite shocking. lol

Rosiepops said...

Sass

I am off for a while again, I have some things to do to prepare for next week.

Helen did you get my email the other day? If you did, she has been given a date now.

see you all a little later.

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

See ya later Rosie!

Rori Hegarty said...

sass, its the beautiful game, ask tinks, she understands !!!!

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Isis

I'm sure she could wax poetical! SO not my game, but then I come from a staunch rugby playing family!

Anonymous said...

Flippin eck! talk about turning my back, our professora came to take my husbands portuguese lesson, only thing is I had told him Thursday!!! He hadn't prepared so she is oming back Friday.

Thanks Rosie, I did get your e-mail but you did say that you would send me a 'proper' e-mail address. Haven't received that yet. Glad everythings working out ok.

Rori Hegarty said...

sass, as do i. I was in thomond park in 1978 i think when a fantastic munster side beat the all blacks... what a day !!

Anonymous said...

Seeing as I am off topic, can I tell you all that ST has an interesting thread on his/her (sorry ST not sure) site well worth a read.

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Isis

Gor, yeah, great!

;-)

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Thanks Our 'Ell.

Will take a butcher's. ST is a woman!

Rori Hegarty said...

I will leave you all to get back on topic,as i have fingernails to chew and suchlike !!

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Don't worry about that - been off topic most of the time here today! If you have nails to bite though, you obviously can't type!

Hope your team wins (whoever that may be - don't even know who is playing!).

assassin said...

I'm really time pressed all round at mo, so flying read and visit.

However, I noted the attempt at disruption and dividing ranks you guys have had earlier, so decided to copy and paste this in here.

I wrote it earlier in a note stash blog, and its cross topic and notey and messy for sure - to be sorted later, but might be of a bit use...delete if not:-)

>..................................

The Candle that Doesn't Blow in The Wind...

Just Keeps Shining On.

More than stereotypical is the fact that hissing spitting hate filled portugese matriarchs come up comparing Diana Spencer with Kate McCann. Condemning Kate of course and attempting to kill her in the same way their male counterparts in culture and legal circles attempt the same feat.

Not ironic either that neurotic man, Elton, does Candle in the Wind for Diana after its original coinage for Monroe. There is a specific line in the song, of course, that shows the song entirely for the neurotic misguided joke it is when coined after either of these two women. Both are the epitome of everything that is weak, false, contained, trapped, victimised - the demonary illusions of grace in 'objects' that crawl rather than shine...sadly.

And yesterday, I read probably the lowest thing ive seen written to date about Kate McCann, [which i will get to writing about] but lets just say, I don't think another woman has existed probably in any of us that are here's lifetime that has had so much venom projected onto and amidst facing absolute horror and unrelenting pain does she find it in herself to carry on - and the particular song line came straight into my mind...

It equally reminded me of Melanie Reids disempowering to Kate [and all women!] wailings and whinings...

Thank God Kate McCann is a different kettle of fish altogether from all of these women - and is real, and has enormous strength and courage. Lets hope she can hold onto it.

Goodbye Norma Jean

Hello Kate McCann

You Have the Grace to hold Yourself Whilst those around You Crawl...:-)

>..............................

Keep going. Dont be disrupted. Kate is so strong, but there is strength in all support too id think for her in darkest times:-)

Bye again

Christabel said...

Hi all,

Sass thank you for the card re mom,
hoping and praying she will be OK!

Assassin,
great post and very apt IMO.
You have done some great work recently, well done.

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Thanks Assassin

Anonymous said...

Sassy you're a disgrace!!!lol Glad you're here to keep the home fires burning so to speak, whilst the more discerning of us!!!! watch the beautiful game!!!!ROFL

Good luck Tinks and Isis, catch you later.

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

HelenM

And watching men kicking a sphere shape full of air into a netty thing and then jumping on each other is the way to go!? :-)

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Christabel

You're welcome. Really hope everything works out for her!

Anonymous said...

Now see here Sassy, I can always tell when you are annoyed!!!!! you give me my full title!!!

Rosiepops said...

Hi ya

Anything new?

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

What is your full title?

Helen-the-bald-a*sed-footie-fan?

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

Rosie

Nope!

Anonymous said...

Now is that any way to speak to a genuiiiiiiine leprechaun?

The Candy Floss blog really sucks said...

So come on Our 'Ell! What's your title!?

Rosiepops said...

Oh dear Liverpool and Chelsea drew, poor Tinks and Isis are not going to be very happy.

Anonymous said...

Tinks, Isis I feel like crying with you. Always said that Chelsea are stuffy. Feel so sorry fo Arnie Riise.

Rosiepops said...

I don't think that keeping this local really applied in this case, where was local? Praia da Luz or Rothley?
Left to the Portuguese police, I doubt if Madeleine's abduction would have even made the local press.
According to Cristovao the McCann's were guilty if Madeleine dies because publicity would have ensured that her abductors killed her. Strange PJ I thought if something so truly dreadful as that had happened, it would be the abductors that were to blame not the parents!

I will be really glad if the McCann's sue the PJ for defamation of character and their inability to stop leaking scurrilous lies all the time.

After the Pj blaming the McCann's and Clarence Mitchell fell through when the journalist Nacho Abad denied outright that it was them that leaked this story to them, I see the attention has now turned to blaming M3 again!
Strange how Carlos Anjos had full on blamed Clarence Mitchell for leaking this saying he had told more lies than he had teeth in his head, it appears the Pj cannot even get who leaked what right!

The PJ are liars.

Tinkerbell43 said...

Evening All,

Absolutely gutted! no other words :-(

I see we have been knocked off topic again today by some stirring, well come on girls, lets rise above it!

Anything new ?

Rosiepops said...

Hi Tinks

no not a lot.

sorry about Liverpool, but there is still a chance isn't there?

Rosiepops said...

Amaral is charged with negligence and falso testimunho – perjury – under article 360 of the Portuguese penal code, a crime punishable by six months to three years in prison.

Another officer has been charged with fabricating a document and three others with torture, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of five years.

After months of secret hearings, on March 26 the five officers were committed for jury trial. All are expected to plead not guilty, and the hearing is expected in the autumn.

Anonymous said...

For all those posters who stated that the only reason they were against the Mccann's (apart from the alleged neglect) was because of their ongoing media campaign, should take note of this, by Klaas, founder of the Klaas Kids Foundation:

"It is up to the families to keep people invested in the recovery effort of the kids," Klaas said.

Who should know better than him, whose own child was kidnapped and murdered in 1993, that the Mccann's took exactly the right track in keeping Madeleine in the media and not allowing anyone, including the PJ to conveniently forget about her.

Christabel said...

Hi Rosie just a quick visit,
have you seen this, reason for the leak last week do you think ? to try and keep the heat off Gonc.


17 Abril, 2008

Joana Cipriano’s Case Back in Court


The coordinator of the Judiciary Police (PJ) that led the investigation to the Joana Cipriano’s case, Gonçalo Amaral, presented a criminal complaint for slander against the lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia. In question is a report that the lawyer spread in the Internet, after a visit to Leonor Cipriano in the Odemira penitentiary, where she serves a sentence for the murder and corpse's occultation of her own daughter.

In the report, Aragão Correia says to be "convinced" that the recluse was victim of “a crime of torture perpetrated by PJ officers". The lawyer had a meeting, with the director of the prison, Ana Calado, and revealed excerpts of the conversation. "She confirmed, with courage, what Leonor Cipriano had reported to me". According to Aragão Correia, the person in charge of the penitentiary told that “a team of two inspectors of Lisbon" tried to negotiate" a distribution of blames, between the PJ and the penitentiary, regarding the aggressions". Another ex-inspector of the PJ, Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, who contributed to the investigation, also presented a criminal complaint.

In the process of the aggressions the Leonor, Amaral is accused of omission of denunciation and false evidence, and Cristóvão of crime of torture. The JN knows that the lawyer of Gonçalo Amaral, António Cabrita, will make a complaint of the colleague to the Order of the Lawyers. In spite of the various attempts to contact the lawyer, it was not possible to get in touch with Aragão Correia.

Rosiepops said...

Hi Helen

It should also be noted by those same people that the PJ left the McCann's alone and vulnerable, to deal with all the press enquiries on their own.
In Britain if this had happened the McCann's would have been allocated a family liaison officer that would have been with them around the clock and also the head of the investigation would have kept them in the picture throughout the inquiry and would have explained what was happening, what was going to happen and when.

The McCann's were treated dreadfully by the Portuguese police, from start to finish.

Rori Hegarty said...

Tinks, Rosie , Helen.... Its only half time !!!

Rosiepops said...

Hi Christabel

Just going to have a read of your post.

Anonymous said...

Has Isis lost it? Half time? Or does she mean there's another leg?

Rori Hegarty said...

Helen, havnt lost it yet!! next week , stamford bridge!! 2nd leg..........

Rosiepops said...

Christabel,

Very suspicious isn't it? How convenient that Aragão Correia just happened to oblige by "smuggling" drugs into a prison at this time, such a "coincidence" don't you think? i wonder what makes parents murder their children and lawyers smuggle drugs into prisons in Portugal?
I thought that Leonor Cipriano's lawyer was Jaoe Grade?

Tinkerbell43 said...

Night everyone,

been to a funeral today and am feeling a bit drained, so I'm turning in for the night.

See you tomorrow, take care xxx

Rosiepops said...

Tinks

You take good care now and get some rest, thinking of you, sleep well xxx

Anonymous said...

Sleep well Tinks.

Anonymous said...

Rosie, you have mail

Rosiepops said...

Thanks helen,

will just send a reply to you via my other email address.

Rosiepops said...

Helen

I haven't received it!

Anonymous said...

Nite Rosie, Christabel.

Anonymous said...

Rosie, didn't send it to atticus got it off a fowarded e-mail from Sassy. The one that starts with ..... smell of!!!!

Rosiepops said...

Goodnight Helen

Sleep well take care. I haven't received the mail yet, but them my account has been playing up, so that doesn't surprise me.

Good night Christabel take care.

xxx God Bless Madeleine xxx

Rosiepops said...

Oh right. will look there once I can access it again lol

Good night xxx

dianeh said...

Good morning to you all.

Hope you are well.

dianeh said...

I just want to say, for what it is worth.

Although I got a certain satisfaction for showing Bianca up for the fool she is, she wouldnt let it drop until I just ignored her. Same with Viv. I dont think I get a mention in demented land anymore.

So I for one will just ignore those pathetic souls that come here to cause trouble. They are pathetic for a number of reasons but the main one is that they cause trouble because they are incapable of putting forward a coherent argument, as they are trying to defend the indefensible. We know who they are, and quite frankly, my life is too short to waste on the likes of them.

So I truly understand wanting to defend our blog and attack those disrupters. BUT, the best attack is to do nothing. I can imagine them wringing their hands in frustration as we ignore them. Now, isnt that just the best defence. Nothing they can do about it, and to continue to attack just makes them look more and more desparate and more and more deranged.

calcite51 said...

Diane, you are right, of course but sometimes it is so hard to not reply back.....

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