Mind your Ps

by May I 

How many waiters to serve 15 people?

David Pilditch wrote an article in the Express on December 17^th 2007*, saying Portuguese police had quizzed a Tapas bar waiter for the third time. 

Reportedly, he gave a dramatically different account of events to the T9. He was said to be one of the trump cards in clearing up contradictory accounts, with an account of how Kate had raised the alarm from the balcony of her apartment. 

His other claim was that checks on the children were less frequent than half hourly. (This is what we refer to as the Total Neglect Theory  – TNT -and just about as explosive)

ANOTHER waiter at the tapas- Jose BAPTISTA told the Express that only male members of the party had checked the children that evening. The paper has a photo of BAPTISTA and a woman, so Pilditch must know who this couple are.

*Sources Jose BAPTISTA, another waiter, Clarence Mitchell

  

The following day,  another article from Pilditch. 

“Key witness goes on the run to protect his evidence.

The key witness is now in hiding after fleeing Portugal (we aren’t told where he fled to) after being sworn to secrecy and terrified that his identity would be revealed. He was afraid that he would come under pressure from RIVAL FACTIONS in this case (What we call BH camps). The witness was scared of British and Portuguese government influence in the probe. His friends claimed he was wary of the team of private eyes hired by the McCanns (presumably Metodo 3)”

Robert Murat’s mother is reported here as accusing the investigators of bribing witnesses into changing their stories. Maybe she will be more informative in her forthcoming book.

Pilditch also refers to the waiter again as the TRUMP CARD for the police and their MOST RELIABLE witness. So it was the same person as he referred to the previous day.

By this time, Goncalo Amaral had been removed from the investigation, but the PJ files had not yet been released.

Moving backwards may explain why there was some confusion about 2 waiters; one called Jose BAPTISTA - the one with the woman in the photo, and Jose BATISTA.  Unless they are one and the same?

In another exclusive article by Pilditch in October 2007, Jose BATISTA - 45, accuses the McCanns or their 7 friends of being to blame.  “I did not think she’d been taken by an abductor. I told them (the police) it had to be one of family or a friend. It had to be someone close….  Batista is standing with his “partner” Maria Fernandes, also works at the Ocean Club complex. They are holding hands. ”

BATISTA surely must have been the guy on the run, as BAPTISTA was speaking directly to Pilditch about ANOTHER waiter in December. How strange then, to have 2 waiters with such similar names serving that night. (Sources: Jose BATISTA, Clarence Mitchell, close friend of couple)

The staff who are witnesses to the dining are: 

1- Jose Baptista, (PJ statement)

2 - the runaway waiter

3 -Jeronimo Salcedas- the barman - referred to as Joe by Oliveira. His father worked for the British Consulate and his mother a teaching assistant.  (PJ statement)

4 - Ricardo Oliveira, another table employee. (PJ statement)

So 3 or 4, depending on whether 1 and 2 are the same man.

Cenoura and David (Barroso?), who were listed as working on Thursday  finished at 6. Who is Cebola, who worked from 4-12pm, according to the rota? The night rota does appear to have been altered.

Strangely, Oliveira, in a second statement, where his memory recall dramatically improves, describes hearing noises from the balcony AFTER Madeleine is reported as missing and a search is underway.

There is a statement in the PJ files from waiter Joaquim Jose Moreira BAPTISTA. Unfortunately, his date of birth has been erased.

In his statement here, BAPTISTA clearly recalls the parents, but not their names, as they ate there practically every day. He says the men checked and their absences were for about 15 minutes, as he had to take food back to warm it on previous evenings.

Maria de Fatima de Sousa Fernandes was interviewed on May 7^th. She was a table worker at the Millenium restaurant, where the McCanns and various other couples with children dined on April 28th . She was aware that they dined at the Tapas thereafter, as it was allegedly closer to where they were lodged (who told her this?)

The Sun refers to BAPTISTA as the waiter who said Kate left the children alone for 3 hours a night and his “wife” Maria, who remembered Madeleine as “a little angel…. quiet and as good as gold.” ( a very British expression) Presumably Maria Fernandes.

The Star refers to him as BATISTA, who said only parents or pals could have done it.

Daily Mail calls him BAPTISTA, who claims the friends shared 8 bottles of wine every night.  

IF he is one and the same waiter, then his story has changed and evolved, but he wasn’t on the run when Pilditch interviewed him in October 2007 AS BATISTA. 

And there is a statement in the PJ files, giving what is the official version of his story on MAY 6^TH 2007 AS BAPTISTA. What he said here is not what he told Pilditch in October. 

There is no mention of an alarm call from the balcony or any comment about checking on that particular night. His recall is that the group of 9 arrived between 20.00 and 21.00 and that he received their food orders. Between 22.00 and 22.30, he was in the kitchen and was informed by a colleague that in the meantime, a client had entered the restaurant shouting and that afterwards the whole English had left in a panic.   

Are you confused? If so, was that the intention, either of Pilditch, or the people who supplied him with this information? He would be the best person to clear this confusion, as he quotes both BAPTISTA and BATISTA as his sources. 

It was his article on December 17^th which carried the photo of the couple. The PJ also know who this man/these men are.

But, as we maintain the Tapas dining and the big round table are inventions, those who are witnesses to this event are not telling the truth.  


POST SCRIPTUM 

Having looked at the OC staff list we are now certain that the waiters referred to in the press as Baptista/ Batista are the same person.

 

The only other male Batista is the husband of Silvia, who was not a waiter.