First of all, Gerry's blog!
"She was taken from our holiday apartment where she was sleeping with her younger brother and sister whilst we were dining 50 yards away."
http://www.findmadeleine.com/
And the Daily Mail 10th August, 2007
"The pictures show the McCanns had to walk about 120 metres to get to the apartment where their children slept."
So, maybe 50 yards, as the crow flies, but rather more than 50 yards to walk!
There are a few more photos on the Daily Mail page, one showing the view from the tapas bar to the apartment. You can see the top of the patio doors maybe, but the rest seems to be hidden by trees.
So, why am I posting this now? Well, as a follow-on to my post about the links with the Mari Luz case, where Mari was said to have been, "unsupervised," and Madeleine was said to be asleep with her younger brother and sister while her parents were dining 50 yards away! Looking at that photo, I think we could say that the McCanns' children were, "unsupervised," because that tapas bar was not like dining in one's own garden and the apartment's door was clearly not visible from the tapas bar.
Is there a class thing operating here? Mari Luz, child of a gypsy family was, "unsupervised," but the middle-class doctors were, "dining." The focus is rather different here. The mother of Mari Luz was lying on the sofa, feeling unwell, while her daughter was, "unsupervised," but the McCanns were dining. Irene Suarez was a lazy so-and-so lying on her sofa, while her daughter was out there in the dangerous world, but Madeleine's parents were dining! Much more civilised, don't you think?
4 comments:
I don't think it's a matter of just class, Anna.
Have the media, questioned anything that has been dished out to them by the McCann machine? Have they uttered the words "criminal negligence, neglect, unnecessary injury"?
Unnecessary injury is precisely what has happened to Madeleine, to put it mildly.
Have they questioned the "fund"?
Forgetting Madeleine's plight for a minute, while she was "supervising" the younger ones, one of the twins, could have choked to death.
Bear in mind that even at 20:30, it is dark in Portugal at that time of the year.
Whereas it was early afternoon, with plenty of light, when Mari Luz went to the local shop.
In the Mediterranean countries, it is quite normal for children to walk ALONE to the nearest shop.
Crime rates are much lower there.
Thank you, Mariana. Some really good points here. Our UK press don't seem to have seriously questioned the details you mention. There is no minimum age in UK law for children being left on their own. However, if a child suffers significant harm as a consequence, then the people responsible can be prosecuted. Even if Madeleine had been abducted in that small window of opportunity, her parents, imo, should be called upon to answer to a court of law since significant harm has come to her. The very fact that she has disappeared shows significant harm.
I was born in Scotland and my family still lives there, on the edge of a small town. It is quite normal there for small children to walk to the local shops on their own. The area where they live is some distance from the town centre and served by a few small shops. So, there are vans selling everything from fresh fish to ice cream and small children will run a hundred yards down the road to buy sweets.
From the witness statements of people who saw Mari Luz, I got the impression that the area where she lived was a fairly small community, where people knew each other and recognised the local children. Coming from the part of Scotland that I do, it did not strike me as totally unusual then that Mari Luz went off to the shop by herself.
Thank you Anna, for the translations, your insight and information.
I feel, the minimum age cannot be an obstacle, to questioning Madeleine's parents, by British authorities.
An inquiry can be held by the Justice Department, as to the circumstances of her disappearance.
They left the UK with three under age children and they have returned with two.
This is reason enough to have an inquiry.
Keep up your good work Anna.
Thank you for your kind words, Mariana. I wonder if the UK authorities have been waiting to see if there are other, more serious charges. I am sure it is true that if those two had been Wayne and Kylie from a council estate, the press would have torn them to shreds over leaving those children alone in an unlocked apartment.
Post a Comment