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The former inspector spends Christmas with
his wife, his daughters and his parents-in-law. He tells
‘Nova Gente’ that he will not give up on finding out “the
truth” about Maddie. |
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For a year, he was silent due to the
injunction that had been filed against
him by the
McCann couple,
for all copies of ‘Maddie –
The Truth
of the Lie’
to be taken off the shelves in bookshops.
Nonetheless, he never gave up and appealed to the Appeals Court, which
in October overturned the prohibition to sell the
book
and the
video
that was produced from a TVI documentary, because “it does not offend
the McCanns’ fundamental rights”, further stating that
Goncalo
Amaral’s
freedom of expression is protected by the European
Convention on Human Rights. At the time, the English couple also
demanded compensation in the amount of 1.2 million euro, over statements
that they consider to be libellous. For the former PJ coordinator and
his wife, Sofia Leal, those were months of suffocation that forced them
to make some changes, namely to perform cuts to their family budget, in
the education of their daughters, who left the school where they were
studying due to the financial difficulties that the couple faces.
“The exile that I was subject to is coming to an end, I have not lost my
dignity or my integrity and I feel strong enough to intervene, in a more
active way, in the search for truth and in the performance of justice”,
Goncalo clarifies, adding that this was a complicated year. “It wasn’t
easy, actually nothing has been easy since I retired from the Judiciary
Police and decided, at my own cost and risk, to affront instituted
powers within the search for the truth”, he mentions. “The seizing of
assets remains unsolved because it took place outside of the injunction.
The losses, financial and others, have yet to be counted, there has been
extensive damage, but we continue to believe in justice. We have been
living with the support of family and friends, who have never abandoned
us”, reveals the former police officer, who resides in a rented
apartment in Portimao with his wife, his daughters and the cat,
Bolachinha [Cookie].
Goncalo Amaral and Sofia Leal defend a family Christmas and insist on
keeping the tradition of the ‘Presepio do Menino ao Alto’ [Nativity
of the Child on the Height] alive, which dates back to the Middle
Ages. “In the Algarve, it’s he who brings the presents and it’s to the
Child that children pray every day of the year. On the 8th of December,
the day of ‘Nossa Senhora da Conceicao’ [Our Lady of Conception],
the ‘searinhas’ [little corn fields] or ‘cabeleiras’ [wigs]
are sown. Those are wheat seeds, which are placed in small containers,
under the bed, where it’s dark and warm. Nine days before Christmas, a
chest of drawers is ‘dressed’ with the finest needlework that one owns
and a stepped throne is built. Then, the ‘cabeleiras’ are placed,
symbols of abundance, as well as the oranges and the pomegranates.
Finally, Baby Jesus is placed on top of the throne. It’s a very
emotional moment, where the family all comes together. While my father
says the prayers, my mother and I finish arranging the throne, the girls
place the fruits and in the end Goncalo places Baby Jesus. On the Kings’
Day, we take the ‘cabeleiras’ into the field and sow them into the
earth. That’s the Algarve’s mixture of the sacred and the profane. We
also build the common Nativity, as it was created by St. Francis of
Assisi, but with a very Portuguese touch: with clay figures that are
placed on a base of cork and moss, with water streams, fountains, sheep
and a little rock”, the wife of the former PJ coordinator explains.
The season has almost always the same taste to the Amaral family.
“Christmas Eve supper and Christmas Day lunch are the most important
meals in the year. Therefore, on the 1st of December, the women in the
family gather to decide on the menu, the dinnerware, the linen, the
details…”, she says, adding that they spend Christmas in Portimao with
her parents, her sister, her brother-in-law and the neighbours.
In a conversation with ‘Nova Gente’, Goncalo said that the McCanns
continue to attack him: “What they are trying to do to me is not only to
limit my civic and constitutional rights. They try my civil
assassination, to destroy my life, not allowing the exercise of any
licit activity, or for me to comply with the existing compromises and
those of my family”, he explains, stressing that “while limiting my
freedom of expression, they have destroyed the firm that I had created,
they tried to forbid my access to the Lawyers’ Orders’ stay, and they
have seized assets and income sources”, he says, justifying that
everything was done “under the banner of searching for a mysteriously
disappeared child, who is probably dead – as the Public Ministry says -,
people and their relatives are being destroyed. One has to say that this
is not catholic at all, coming from people who say they are so religious
and pious. This is not how they will find the child!”
Goncalo Amaral says that he will wait to read the book that the McCanns
are writing. “It’s being said that the book is an aid to find their
daughter. As it will only be published towards the end of April, we can
conclude that until then, their daughter
won’t be found.” |
