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JOSE BAPTISTA |
Detectives
trying to solve the mystery of
Madeleine McCann have questioned
a crucial witness for the third
time.
Portuguese police believe he
could prove that her parents are
lying over her disappearance.
Yesterday it emerged that the
witness - a waiter at the
tapas restaurant where Kate and
Gerry McCann dined with their
friends every night - ? has
provided investigators with key
evidence.
The Portuguese man is said to
have been the first person to
see Kate McCann as she raised
the alarm after discovering her
daughter had gone missing from
the family - holiday apartment
in Praia da Luz. He has
allegedly given a dramatically
different account of the events
on May 3 from statements made by
the McCann's and their friends.
It is because the waiter's
testimony is considered so
critical that he has been
interviewed three times.
The latest interview took place
just days ago as detectives were
drawing up a list of questions
to be put to the so-called Tapas
Nine. The group are set to be
interviewed in Britain by police
in the presence of the
Portuguese officers heading the
case.
As part of the process, the
McCann's and their friends could
later be summoned back to
Portugal for a face-to-face
showdown with the witness.
In Portugal, detectives can set
up a confrontation between key
witnesses and suspects to find
out who is telling the truth.
Yesterday one report in Portugal
said: The employee's testimony
will be one of the trump cards
in clearing up the McCann's
contradictions and those of
their friends.
The witness claimed that instead
of running back to the tapas
restaurant, which is part of the
Ocean Club complex where they
were staying, Kate raised the
alarm from the balcony of her
apartment.
He told investigators that Kate
screamed: They taken her.
They've taken her.
A series of other witnesses have
since come forward to back his
evidence, including British
nanny Charlotte Pennington, 20.
Kate's first words became a
central issue as they appeared
to indicate she had already
rejected the possibility that
Madeleine had simply wandered
off. Police questioned why the
39-year-old GP was so certain
that her daughter had been
abducted, and regard it as
possible evidence that she was
already engaged in a cover-up.
In contrast, friends insisted
that rather than shouting from
the balcony, Kate ran straight
back to the restaurant crying:
Madeleine's gone. Madeleine's
gone.
The waiter also disputes the
Tapas Nine's claims that they
were taking it in turns to check
on their children every half an
hour.
He is said to have told police
that members of the party left
the table much less frequently.
Yesterday a report in respected
Portuguese newspaper Diario de
Noticias said: This waiter is a
witness considered crucial to
the investigation.
The investigators want to find
out about what happened during
dinner the conversations
and the McCann's behaviour as
well as their alleged trips to
the apartment.
The employee still insists it is
not true that the child's
parents checked their children
every half hour.
Alleged inconsistencies in the
Tapas Nine's evidence have been
raised by a series of
independent witnesses.
Another waiter at the tapas
restaurant,
Jose Baptista, told
The Daily Express that only male
members of the party
had left the table during the
evening.
His evidence led Portuguese
detectives to question why it
was Kate who discovered her
daughter had vanished.
But last night the McCann's
spokesman, Clarence Mitchell,
dismissed reports of the
waiter's testimony as all lies .
He conceded that Kate may have
said They've taken her at some
point but they were not her
first words.
He said: Kate has consistently
and categorically absolutely
denied she said that
on the verandah. She may have
said it at some stage as a
general remark, but she did not
run out with this phrase.
Whoever this guy is, and if he
is saying this, he is either
making it up or he is mistaken.
Kate, Gerry and their friends
told the truth. They will
continue to maintain their
stories, because it is the
truth. Whatever this guy is
saying we reject it - it is not
true. |
