UK girl's mother considered suspect (Full Version)

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slaveboyforyou -> UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 9:07:50 AM)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070907/ap_on_re_eu/portugal_missing_girl

I haven't been paying that much attention to this case, but it doesn't sound good for the parents.  Granted, I don't really know that much about the Portuguese legal system or the reliability of their police investigators. 




camille65 -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 10:10:25 AM)

She is now being called an active suspect and he is being called as a witness.
According to CNN.
All I can say is ugh. Yuck. Ugly nasty world sometimes [:(]




domiguy -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 10:11:27 AM)

A murder should never discount the value of the mother being a hottie!




NorthernGent -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 12:01:30 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070907/ap_on_re_eu/portugal_missing_girl

I haven't been paying that much attention to this case, but it doesn't sound good for the parents.  Granted, I don't really know that much about the Portuguese legal system or the reliability of their police investigators. 


Let's not let morals and ethics get in the way of politics......

It's a middle class family, so they're all over the news; children go missing every day in deprived areas and, according to the media and wider middle class society, their lives aren't newsworthy.

Why would the Portuguese legal system or police be less reliable than the British version?




Mercnbeth -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 12:14:49 PM)

quote:

Why would the Portuguese legal system or police be less reliable than the British version?
That's a good question and when I heard the story I was wondering why the forensic evidence had to be sent to the UK to process and then sent back to Portugal. Are there no 'state of the art' facilities in Portugal? That would be a difficult 'chain of evidence' testimony in a US court. Anything coming back would be subject to a 'reasonable doubt' test it that happened here.

Any insight?




slaveboyforyou -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 12:23:05 PM)

quote:

Let's not let morals and ethics get in the way of politics......

It's a middle class family, so they're all over the news; children go missing every day in deprived areas and, according to the media and wider middle class society, their lives aren't newsworthy.

Why would the Portuguese legal system or police be less reliable than the British version?


I don't know if they are reliable or not.  Perhaps I shouldn't of said that.  I agree with you about the media coverage being out of proportion.  Children go missing and are killed all the time here, but most never merit more than a mention in the police beat section of the local paper.  The media only seems to pay attention in mass when the victim comes from a upper middle class, caucasian family.  Of course they will make exceptions if there are juicy, underlying details like a love triangle, alleged cult involvement, kinky sex, etc.  I honestly think this story got a lot of coverage because of the implications made early on that the girl was grabbed by a group making pedophile videos.  I can imagine there is still some underlying fear after that case they had in Belgium a few years back where activities like that were alleged. 




NorthernGent -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 12:23:29 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mercnbeth

quote:

Why would the Portuguese legal system or police be less reliable than the British version?
That's a good question and when I heard the story I was wondering why the forensic evidence had to be sent to the UK to process and then sent back to Portugal. Are there no 'state of the art' facilities in Portugal? That would be a difficult 'chain of evidence' testimony in a US court. Anything coming back would be subject to a 'reasonable doubt' test it that happened here.

Any insight?


It's fair to say that we're better equipped in terms of forensics, but that doesn't equate to our legal system being more reliable.

In terms of the reasonable doubt test, I'm missing the point: doubt because of the distance involved in transporting the evidence, or something else?




Mercnbeth -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 12:29:11 PM)

quote:

In terms of the reasonable doubt test, I'm missing the point: doubt because of the distance involved in transporting the evidence, or something else?
Yes - in the US if the chain of evidence exceeds 100 yards the defense team uses this to bring doubt about its reliability. The easiest example to site is the blood evidence in the OJ Simpson case. 

The question was only regarding forensics. I don't believe that any sovereign government's legal system should be considered higher or lower than any other. The local rule of law should prevail in every case.

Thanks for the info.   




NorthernGent -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 12:30:56 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou

quote:

Let's not let morals and ethics get in the way of politics......

It's a middle class family, so they're all over the news; children go missing every day in deprived areas and, according to the media and wider middle class society, their lives aren't newsworthy.

Why would the Portuguese legal system or police be less reliable than the British version?


I don't know if they are reliable or not.  Perhaps I shouldn't of said that.  I agree with you about the media coverage being out of proportion.  Children go missing and are killed all the time here, but most never merit more than a mention in the police beat section of the local paper.  The media only seems to pay attention in mass when the victim comes from a upper middle class, caucasian family.  Of course they will make exceptions if there are juicy, underlying details like a love triangle, alleged cult involvement, kinky sex, etc.  I honestly think this story got a lot of coverage because of the implications made early on that the girl was grabbed by a group making pedophile videos.  I can imagine there is still some underlying fear after that case they had in Belgium a few years back where activities like that were alleged. 


Totally agreed. You wouldn't believe the coverage this family have had over here. Front page news for months. It's sad for the little girl and her family, but there's little balance.




ownedgirlie -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 12:55:17 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mercnbeth

quote:

Why would the Portuguese legal system or police be less reliable than the British version?
That's a good question and when I heard the story I was wondering why the forensic evidence had to be sent to the UK to process and then sent back to Portugal. Are there no 'state of the art' facilities in Portugal? That would be a difficult 'chain of evidence' testimony in a US court. Anything coming back would be subject to a 'reasonable doubt' test it that happened here.

Any insight?


From what I heard on the news last night, the police released the scene as soon as the couple left the hotel and the hotel rented the room out the following day.  Also the rental car the couple was using was not saved for evidence, either.  It's my guess that at that point, trust in the Portugal legal system had seriously waned.




Politesub53 -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 1:02:27 PM)

The car they are talking about was supposedly rented out by the parents some 25 days after the girl vanished. If, and its a big if, that her blood was found inside it, then it seems a very strange affair. Maybe it was simply transefered by an item of luggage or something though.
The local police are not used to handling such high profile cases, and the poor PR from day one reflects this.




FullCircle -> RE: UK girl's mother considered suspect (9/7/2007 4:48:53 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070907/ap_on_re_eu/portugal_missing_girl

I haven't been paying that much attention to this case, but it doesn't sound good for the parents.  Granted, I don't really know that much about the Portuguese legal system or the reliability of their police investigators. 


This sounds like another case of trial by media. It shouldn’t really be allowed to occur because it will only undermine any future trials in this case. Chinese whispers and the media believing one another’s sensationalist headlines. I doubt they have the first clue what’s happening as not even the parents do.  




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