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HOUSING
DEPARTMENTAL MANAGER 07 MAY 2007 |
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331 to
333 Witness statement of
Vitor Manuel dos
Santos 2007.05.07 |
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TRANSLATIONS BY INES |
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2-Processos
Volume II
Pages 331 - 333 |
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02_VOLUME_IIa_Page_331 |
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02_VOLUME_IIa_Page_332 |
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02_VOLUME_IIa_Page_333 |
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Revised translation.
Processos Volume II
Pages 331 - 333
Witness Statement
Vitor Manuel dos Santos
Date/Time: 2007/05/07 11H00
Occupation: Head of Accommodation
Place of Work: Ocean Club
He comes to the process as a
witness. He has worked as Head of
Accommodation at the resort for
seven years, but has been employed
there for the past 18 years.
His functions are the management of
bookings and the control of
contracts whether with private
individuals or travel agencies. He
is responsible for the management
and supervision of the reception.
As concerns the facts being
investigated, he says he received
the McCann booking as normal and he
points out that this reservation was
made by Mark Warner, whose
representative is John Hill.
He says that it is normal for each
reservation to make specifications
and that in this case in concrete a
request was made that the four
families should be accommodated
close to each other and a ground
floor apartment was requested
enabling easy access for the
families with small children.
He adds that this family booked from
28th April to 5th May on a half
board basis, in other words,
breakfast and dinner. For dinner the
guests could choose between two
options, the Tapas and the Millenium
and although the meals are
identical, the clients choose the
restaurant according to its
proximity to their accommodation.
In this case in concrete, the
rational choice for dinner would be
the Tapas restaurant as it is 100
metres
distance from the apartment,
whilst the Millenium is situated 600
metres away.
The witness states that from the
restaurant it is possible to see the
apartment including the window of
the
living room and the bedroom
where the parents slept. The bedroom
where the three children slept,
situated at the opposite end of the
apartment was completely outside of
the field of sight of anyone in the
Tapas restaurant.
Therefore the most viable solution
would be to leave the children in
the parents bedroom or in the living
room where they could easily be
checked from the place where the
parents were dining.
When questioned about the
availability of a baby sitting
service from 19.30 to 23.30 he
confirms that this service exists
and that it is free.
When asked, the witness replies that
he cannot understand why as the
service was free, the McCanns did
not use it.
When asked, he says that before the
disappearance he did not have any
contact with the family, they were
'just' clients like hundreds of
others who stayed at the resort.
With regard to the date of the
disappearance on 3rd May 2007, he
remembers that at 22.00/22.15 he
received a phone call from the
reception, from receptionist Helder,
who told him that John Hill was
extremely agitated as a child had
disappeared and that the GNR had
been contacted but had not arrived
yet. He added (the receptionist)
that he had phoned the GNR post
several times and that he had been
told that they would arrive when
they could but that they were
investigating a theft in Odiaxere.
The receptionist asked the witness
whether he should contact the PSP,
to which the witness replied no as
this area belongs to the GNR.
Given the circumstances, the witness
thought it best to go to the resort
to find out more about the
situation.
When he arrived at the scene about
10 to 15 minutes later, he
immediately went to the reception
where the GNR were present, taking a
statement from the girl's father.
The witness then went to the
apartment where there was an
agglomeration of persons, however he
managed to perceive that the
apartment did not show any sign of
disturbance not that anyone had
attempted to break in.
He adds that he heard it said at the
scene that the mother had not left
the shutter open as she always
closed the shutter when she left.
When asked, he says that he did not
notice anything strange in relation
to the apartment or its
surroundings.
The witness states that the resort
did not have any kind of security or
cameras.
He never saw anything suspicious or
abnormal. He was asked to provide a
copy of the rooming list, showing
the information relating to the
booking made by the family, which he
immediately provided and which is
annexed to the statement.
The witness says that he has nothing
else useful to add.
No more is said. Reads, ratifies,
signs.
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