Joana Morais

Leonor Cipriano condemned to seven more months in jail for false accusations

joanamorais@gmail.com (Joana Morais) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:20:01 PDT

Expresso cover in 2005, Leonor Cipriano "torture" article

written by Marinho Pinto the current head of the bar

The Court of Faro condemned today Leonor Cipriano to seven more months in jail for making false accusations in the process which incriminated five Judiciary Police officers of the crimes of aggression and torture.

This jail sentence is added to the 16 years that the arguida is serving for the murder of her daughter Joana - who disappeared from the village of Figueira, in Portimão, on September 12 2004 - and of which she has served about half.

According to the court, it was proved that Leonor Cipriano lied about the way in which the officers had beaten her, having presented in trial different versions of the facts that took place during the questionings to which she was subjected to, in 2004, after the crime.

According to the judge who delivered the judgement today, despite not having taken oath, the arguida in the quality of assistant to the process, was warned that she could not misrepresent the truth, at the risk of being punished and if she had done it, she did it "because she wanted" and in a conscient manner.

The court considered the illegality of the act committed takes on a "grave aspect" and is "above average", given the long sentence the arguida is serving, the seriousness of the facts, the quality of the arguidos [the five PJ officers accused by Leonor Cipriano] and the media coverage of the case.

"It is crystal clear the arguida misrepresented the truth [lied]", states the ruling, which highlights the several contradictions relative to the manner in which she alleges she was beaten and to the agents that were present in the interrogation room where she alleged to have been attacked.

The possibility of a suspended prison sentence was dismissed because the court considered that, despite the long jail sentence that the arguida is already serving, she continued to show disrespect for the rules.

The court also added that it would be "naive" to believe that a "mere threat" of imprisonment would contribute to the "recovery" of the arguida, who was waived today of appearing in court to hear the reading of the judgement.

The contradictory statements about the aggressions that she was a target were made between 2008 and 2009, at the time of the trial¹ of the inspectors who investigated the "Joana Case", which resulted in the condemnation of two of the five arguidos in that process.

That court gave has proven the aggressions even though the identity of the attackers was never established.

Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator of the Criminal Department of Investigation of the Judiciary Police of Portimão was absolved of the crime of omission to denunciate [failing to complaint] and condemned to one and a half year for the crime of false statement, with a suspended sentence for the same period time.

The inspector António Nunes Cardoso was condemned to two years and three months for the falsification of a document, with a suspended sentence of two years.

The former Judiciary Police inspectors Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, Leonel Morgado Marques and Paulo Marques Bom, who were accused of having tortured Leonor Cipriano during the questionings² at the headquarters of the PJ of Faro, were all absolved.

In jail, Leonor Cipriano is attending the 9th grade of school and has still as an activity the placement of labels in fruit cases, the court said adding that the detainee does not receive visits from friends or family.

Leonor's brother, João Cipriano, is also serving a 16 years jail sentence for the crimes of homicide and concealment of a corpse.

in Lusa news agency/TVI, April 2 2013

Notes
1 - Leonor Cipriano's lawyer at the time of the trial against the five Judiciary Police inspectors was Marcos Aragão Correia who had a pivotal role intertwining the Maddie and the Joana cases; the Lawyers Order head of the bar, Marinho Pinto, timely requested for the order to become assistant for the accusation and was represented by Rodrigo Santiago, thus annulling the possibility of asking Marinho Pinto to testify in relation to the Expresso 2005 "torture" article pictured above.

2 - Leonor Cipriano had already confessed to her crimes on October 13 2004, and was accompanied by her lawyer at the time, Célia Costa, during the questioning before the alleged aggressions on October 14 2004 took place.

Related

ab) at a certain point in time, due to a motive that has not been exactly established, both arguidos started, conjointly, to successively hit minor CC on the head, prompting her to hit her head on the wall’s corner, being visible that she bled, from her mouth, her nose and her temple, due to the hits against the wall, which also caused the minor’s fall and her death, thus ceasing the arguidos’ activity;

ac) traces of blood from the minor remained on the living room’s walls and floor, on various spots, and also near the entrance;

ad) the arguidos ensured that CC was dead, verifying that she neither breathed nor reacted, and then, not wanting to be held responsible over their daughter’s and niece’s death, decided to prevent said death from becoming known to others;

ae) therefore, they soon decided that they would have to ensure that the existence of any signs in the house of what they had just done could not be verified, that the minor’s body would never be found and that, preferably, everyone would be convinced that the minor had been taken by a third party;

af) therefore, arguida BB remained at home, washing the wall and the floor that had signs of blood from CC, as well as the spot where the minor remained slumped after death, using a mop and its bucket to do so.

(...)

aah) the arguidos managed to disturb the investigative activities and prevented the mortal remains of minor CC, whose life they took, from being located;

aai) the aforementioned activities were carried out by the arguidos under concerted efforts and intentions, in a deliberate, free and conscious manner, fully knowing that those behaviours are punished by law;

aaj) therefore as far as taking the life of CC, their direct relative (daughter and niece), is concerned, which they did by employing force, taking advantage of the fact that she couldn’t defend herself (taking into account her age and physical built) and using force in the full knowledge that, considering the vital area in which her body was hit (the head) repeatedly and violently, prompting the minor’s head to hit the wall, they could take her life away from her, a consequence which they accepted, still not ceasing their activity;

aal) not seeing as an obstacle the circumstance that the minor depended on her mother and was a direct relative of both, and should be defended instead of victimised by them;

aam) in the same deliberate, free and conscious manner, and knowing that such behaviour is punishable, they carried out the above described action of cutting CC’s body, demonstrating total insensibility, knowing full well that, in this manner, they offended the communitarian respect that is due to the dead, acting with the purpose of CC’s body never being found again, hiding it in a location that is not appropriated for the effect, in order to try to avoid responsibility for her death;

Extracts from Supreme Court of Justice - ruling on the Homicide and concealment of eight-year-old Joana Cipriano's body, 20.04.2006 [in Portuguese here]

Leonor Cipriano judged for contradictions

joanamorais@gmail.com (Joana Morais) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 23:30:51 PST

Faro: In question are the accusations of aggressions by Judiciary Police officers

by João Mira Godinho

The different versions that she presented about the alleged aggressions that she was a victim of at the headquarters of the Judiciary Police of Faro, took Leonor Cipriano yesterday to the Court of Faro. Joana's mother - who is doing a jail time of 16 years for the murder of her daughter - answers for false accusations.

Yesterday, Leonor, 42 years old, repeated what she had said in court, back in 2008, during the trial of the five inspectors of the Judiciary Police - including Gonçalo Amaral and Paulo Pereira Cristovão - for [alleged] aggressions during the questionings, at the time of Joana's death investigation, back in 2004.

Leonor repeated that, at the Judiciary Police of Faro headquarters, the officers beat her up "with punches and kicks", that they beat her "with a cardboard tube", that they placed "a blue plastic bag over her head" and that they hit her with a "phone book".

However, in the answers to the Public Ministry and to the Judge, Joana's mother [and convicted murderer] contradicted herself: she was unable to give the timing of the aggressions, she stated the tube was made of plastic and she affirmed that she had always been sitting down, when before she had stated that she had been forced to stay on her knees, on the top of ashtrays.

"This was an important moment in her life and it would be expected, even for the numerous times she has been asked the same questions, that she had kept it in her memory" argued the Public Ministry prosecutor, concluding that Leonor "insists on lying" and that she should be condemned to a jail sentence [for those lies].

The defence attorney* alleged that Leonor Cipriano "has difficulties in explaining herself", which, allied to a situation "in which the discernment wasn't the best", explains the contradictions.

The sentence was scheduled for the 14th of March.

In 2009, at the trial of the PJ officers, the court ruled as proven that there was an aggression however they were unable to identify the perpetrators.

in Correio da Manhã, March 5 2013

Note by JM: * Marcos Aragão Correia has taken an extended leave in Brazil whilst Marinho Pinto, apparently decided that the Lawyers Order should not go on being an assistant of her defence. Leonor, as a poor woman, was left with a court-appointed (defence) counsel. I guess now that she has served the McCanns' purpose and other people interests, she can be discarded!

Immediately Related

Leonor Cipriano court started today, for making false statements against Judiciary Police officers

Related Videos
Maddie and Joana Crossing Paths, SIC, 17-02-2009
Portuguese only, English summary here

Without a trace of Joana, RTP, 15-10-2008
English transcript here

Rui Pedro's case: Court condemns Afonso Dias to 3 years and 6 months in prison

joanamorais@gmail.com (Joana Morais) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:09:59 PST

Rui Pedro's missing alert | Fátima and Manuel Mendonça, Rui Pedro's parents

Rui Pedro Teixeira Mendonça disappeared on the 4th of March 1998. He was eleven years old. Fifteen years later to that day, the man who took Rui Pedro was condemned for his kidnap, and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in jail.

Background

In an interview given to RTP in 1998, Afonso Dias, 21 years old at that time, confirmed that he was the last person to be with Rui Pedro. On March 3, the day before the disappearance, Afonso, reportedly had arranged a meeting for the following day in the afternoon, between a prostitute, Rui Pedro and another child, Rui Pedro's cousin. However, on the 4th, the cousin’s mother didn’t allow the boy to go out with his friends. Filomena, Rui Pedro's mother, had already forbidden her son of playing with Afonso Dias.

Filomena thought that Rui was riding his bike in the usual safe place, near Lousada's junior high school. Instead, Rui was in Afonso's car. They travelled together in the regional road 106, in Lustosa direction.

Upon arriving to Lustosa, Afonso contacted a local prostitute, Alcina, and asked her to have sex with the child. Alcina hesitated, and Rui Pedro obviously distressed, started trembling and cried. Alcina ended up refusing the service, but kept a small conversation with Rui Pedro. After that, the child entered in Afonso Dias's car and was never seen again.

The reconstruction of that day was made in 2002, by the Judiciary Police with the help of, the then and now, primary and only suspect, Afonso Dias.

Rui Pedro suffered epilepsy seizures, one of the hypotheses that was advanced was that Rui Pedro suffered a severe convulsion which caused memory loss or his premature death.

Opposing Sentences

Afonso Dias

Afonso Dias was acquitted at the Court of first instance of Lousada in February 2012. That Court, presided by judge Carla Fraga, based its decision on the "weaknesses" and "lack of consistency" of the testimony of the prostitute Alcina Dias, who, at the trial, guaranteed that she had been with Rui Pedro in March 4, 1998.

The family's lawyer, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, challenged the acquittal, arguing that the judgement of the Court of Lousada had been 'intoxicated' by the first investigative team of inspectors of the Judiciary Police that had dismissed the testimony of the prostitute, Alcina Dias, who assured at the time, that she saw Rui Pedro leaving in Afonso Dias' car.

The Public Ministry prosecutor, Amaro Neves and the child's parents, who constituted themselves as assistants to the process, sustained that it was after that meeting that Rui Pedro disappeared.

Today, the Court of Appeals of Porto gave reason to the appeal made by the Public Ministry, and partially to the appeal made by Rui Pedro's family and decided to condemn the only suspect for kidnap, Afonso Dias, to 3 years and 6 months of effective jail.

Paulo Gomes, Afonso Dias lawyer, stated that he will appeal against the latest ruling to the Supreme Court of Justice.

Reactions

Filomena Mendonça and Ricardo Sá Fernandes, 2012

«When justice is done, when a judge, a court makes justice, this "washes the faces of us all". For me this is a very important day, very important for Filomena and for Manuel Mendonça [Rui Pedro's parents] (...), but it is above all a very important day to Rui Pedro because Rui Pedro may be alive and we will continue the search for him. And if he is not alive, his memory deserves that we carry on, until we know what happened to him.»

«It is the first victory, but not the last, the last victory will be when we know what happened to Rui Pedro», said emotionally, the family's lawyer Ricardo Sá Fernandes.

Filomena, Rui Pedro's mother, said that the decision by the court represents «a glimmer of hope and a little light at end of the tunnel». She added, «It's already something. It acknowledges what we always had thought, that he (Afonso Dias) is guilty, and is therefore a confirmation».

Filomena Teixeira now hopes that the arguido, and then friend of Rui Pedro, breaks the silence that he has maintained regarding to what happened to Rui Pedro 15 years ago. «It is about time!»

Questioned about what she intends to do, Filomena said: «From now on, it's to fight to find Rui Pedro, alive or dead».

Today's decision, that condemned the arguido, Afonso Dias, to three years and six months of effective jail, coincides exactly with the 15th anniversary of the disappearance of Rui Pedro.

Note by JM: Mr. and Mrs. McCann, we do hope that you don't try, like you did in March 2011 to use this tragedy once again in your propaganda. You see, unlike you, Rui Pedro's parents did EVERYTHING in their power to keep Rui Pedro's case open in order to try to find out what happened to their son. Unlike you, Rui Pedro's parents were the FOUNDERS of the Association for Portuguese Missing Children, a real CHARITY and not a PRIVATE COMPANY. Unlike you, they used their OWN MONEY to search for their child. Unlike you, they have HELPED other families and parents of missing children instead of (ab)using them - need I mention names? So, please, keep what's left of the dignity you still have and leave this family, this child, this case alone. And while at it, stop desecrating Joana Cipriano's memory. Thank you.