With apologies to the amiable John McEnroe for borrowing his signature line and turning it around to address an issue far more serious than tennis, let me begin by stating that I will not attempt to second guess a court of law and pass judgement on what happened to Madeleine McCann on or around that fateful night of May 3, 2007.
Photo: ReutersHowever, considering that the case is still unresolved, it is pertinent to highlight a number of inconsistencies that indicate that the abduction theory has remained just that, a theory, and one that many professionals have claimed does not hold much water.
The first thing of supreme importance that does not add up is the difficulty in finding the point of entry of any alleged abductors into apartment 5A, coupled with the changes in a number of statements made by the McCanns. They were quick to inform family and friends in the UK over the phone that the window had been “jemmied”, or forced open, and that the doors had been locked. Jemmy is another word for crowbar. But the crime scene officers found no indication whatsoever of any forced entry.
So what led the McCanns to allege that the windows had been “jemmied”?
A new version then surfaced that the sliding back door had been left open. But this contradicted earlier statements. However, if the unlocked door theory is sustained, surely the McCanns would never have jumped to the conclusion that the window had been jemmied.
And why would they have immediately reached the conclusion that Maddie had been abducted, shouting this out to their friends? If, as established, Maddie had awoken crying on a previous night and found her parents gone, why would they have not suspected that, having found the door they then alleged was open, she may have wandered out looking for them?
This is what initially threw the Polizia Judiciaria. Conan Doyle, as Sherlock Holmes, states that an investigator needs to establish the impossible, and once this is eliminated from the equation, whatever is left is the truth. Was it ever possible for a stranger to gain entry into the apartment?
The McCanns and their doctor friends, the so-called Tapas 7, stated that they had been taking turns in checking on their kids sleeping in the neighbouring apartments at the Ocean Club, 60 metres away. At least one of the couples had a baby monitor in their apartment. So why is it that the McCanns did not?
Why did their friends who had baby monitors agree to check on all the kids instead of advise the McCanns to acquire a baby monitor of their own, which provides constant surveillance?
Was that fateful night the first night they were checking up on the kids? If so, why? If not, how does one explain the fact that Mrs Fearne, living in the apartment above the McCanns’, reported to the police that she had heard constant crying coming from their apartment on the previous Tuesday that lasted around an hour and 15 minutes? This was confirmed by the McCanns themselves, who admitted that Maddie had confronted them on why they had not come when she or the twins were crying.
The McCanns’ statements have raised far more questions than provided answers to the circumstances surrounding the tragic disappearance of their daughter
Considering the crying incident earlier in the week and the alleged absence of a baby monitor, why did the group of medics living in and paying for an exclusive resort, decline to use the in-house babysitting services once they had decided to leave all the children unattended in the evenings? They could even have shared one.
The McCanns vehemently denied ever using sedatives on the children during the trip. But Kate McCann’s father stated that she used to administer sedatives and Gerry McCann had told the police that Maddie often had difficulty sleeping. How is it that with all the commotion, hysteria, shouting and noise on the discovery of the missing child, as confirmed by staff, the twins kept sleeping through it all?
Why were the twins not tested for sedatives at the time? Why did the McCanns carry out a test only four months later in an attempt to show that the twins had not been sedated?
The media has referred to Kate McCann as a general practitioner or GP. But she is actually a qualified anaesthetist. Had Maddie theoretically died of an overdose in the administration of a sedative, apart from being found guilty of wrongful death through negligence, and possibly losing custody of her other children, Kate could well have been struck off the medical register. Following Maddie’s disappearance she has practised neither form of medicine.
The forensics are the stickiest part of the whole tragic saga. Following Conan Doyle’s principle, the police started to explore other leads and brought in two sniffer dogs from the UK trained to respectively pick up the scent of human blood and human cadavers.
The ‘cadaver’ dog picked up scent in the apartment, including in a cupboard in the parents’ bedroom, on Kate’s shorts, and in the car and booth of the Renault first hired by them over three weeks after Maddie’s disappearance. The ‘blood’ dog picked up scent from behind the sofa and in the booth of the said car. Tiny blood samples were taken from the booth to a forensic lab in the UK that found a possible match to Maddie’s DNA.
When asked for his comments in an interview with regard to the reactions of the sniffer dogs and the possible DNA match, Gerry McCann is seen getting very agitated, rising from his chair and walking around the room, refusing to address the question, and threatening to leave the interview.
Kate remains cool, asking the interviewer to give him a moment, saying that her husband should go out to get some air. In a follow-up interview Gerry calmly replies sardonically and wryly to the same question with the words “ask the dogs”.
A most disturbing detail came out of two depositions made to the Leicester Police on May 16, 2007, by Katherine and Arul Gaspar, two doctors who know the McCanns well and holidayed with them in Majorca in 2005. They reported hearing comments back then, from a member of the eventual Tapas 7 on the Majorca trip, to Gerry McCann about Madeleine, using lewd gestures which the Gaspars found very disturbing, making them apprehensive of his presence around their own children.
The Gaspar depositions were only passed on to the Portuguese Polizia Judiciaria and entered into the procès verbal in January, 2008.
Goncalo Amaral, a senior police detective heading the investigation, was replaced. He eventually left the force and published a book about the investigation called The Truth of the Lie. Amaral has made the case that Maddie died in the apartment, and that this was covered up. He was sued by the McCanns for libel but they lost the case in the supreme court in Portugal.
When the McCanns were pronounced arguidos, or official suspects, Kate exercised her right to remain silent and refused to answer 24 questions put to her during interrogation. The investigation on the McCanns was closed in July 2008, and they are no longer listed as suspects. To this day, however, those questions have never been answered by Kate, who nevertheless went on to write a book about the whole ordeal.
The McCanns and all their doctor friends, members of the Tapas 7, have always refused to take lie detector tests.
The McCanns’ statements have raised far more questions than provided answers to the circumstances surrounding the tragic disappearance of their daughter.
While there is no doubt that the McCanns have been through hell, it is unlikely that justice for a missing child could ever be served without exploring all leads to the very end, no matter where they may take you.
Is this being done? Has it ever been done?
Rodolfo Ragonesi is a lawyer and researcher in history and international affairs.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece