Witness Statement

Marina Paulo Raposo Batista Castela

Date: 2007 , 05 , 16

Place of Work: Ocean Club

Occupation: General Manager

She comes to the process as a witness. She heard about the disappearance on 4th May when she arrived at work at about 09.30.

She saw the suspect, Robert Murat, for the first time on that day at about 12.30 when the witness went to meet GNR officers whom she cannot identify, to open the doors for them and speak to guests staying in apartments in block 6. The objective was for the police to talk to these guests and show them the photo of the girl and establish whether they had any information that could lead to discovering her whereabouts.

When she was beginning this task together with GNR officers, this individual appeared, she does not know from where, he immediately saw what operations were going on, speaking ostensibly to the guests from the first two apartments, explaining to them what they were doing there, showing much will and anxiety in the transmission of this information.

Given his behaviour, for a few minutes the witness thought that he belonged to one of the security forces, namely the PJ.

The GNR officer who was with them did not speak and English nor say anything.

After the second apartment, the witness says that Robert’s attitude was not the most correct, as he spoke to the guests in a very dry and affirmative way and she took the initiative to introduce herself to the clients, not letting him speak.

She thanks that is the reason why he immediately disappeared and did not accompany them to the rest of the apartments.

During the time he was with them that afternoon, several times he said how sorry he was about Madeleine’s disappearance, that he had a daughter of the same age and that we had to do everything possible to find the girl.

She had not seen this individual before this incident and knows nothing about him or his lifestyle.

She only saw him again on the morning of 7th May when she came to make statements to the PJ officers in apartment 6 of block 6. She was in the building between 11.00 and 13.30 and remembers that the individual entered and left the building at free will. They said hello to each other and did not speak any further that day.

On the following day 8th May, when she took some cleaning staff to the PJ station for questioning, Robert went to her and greeted her with two kisses. He asked her name. She did not see him again that day and thinks he was with the PJ officers.

She saw him again the following day 9th May at about 10.30 at the PJ station. At that moment he approached her and said the witness was known by a friend of his, Michaela. The witness confirmed this fact.

After this day she saw him no further. Apart from the contacts she had with him she had seen him on other occasions from a distance, in the company of journalists.

When questioned, she said that she knows Michaela (she has a German surname which the witness cannot pronounce) who lives behind the Del Rei restaurant in Lagos for the past 10 years.

They got to know each other through both being Jehovah’s witnesses and frequenting the same church, opposite the financial building in Lagos.

That she would attend the meetings with her boyfriend at that time, called Luis Antonio. Afterwards they got married and went to live in the apartment where they still both reside. She does not know whether they are still married today.

She knows that about 3 years ago, Michaela left home and went to live with another man near Faro, the witness does not know whom this individual was. She does know that Michaela was away for a little while, returning home.

Since that time (about 3 years ago) she has not had any further contact with Michaela because she was disassociated from the Jehovah’s witnesses of her own will and due to the reasons mentioned above.

That about 2 or 3 months ago she was readmitted to the JW . last Sunday, on 13th May they were together at a meeting where she was with her daughter. They greeted each other and the witness told her that she had met her partner, Robert. She confirmed that they had a business together on the Internet and that he had come to live in Portugal to expand his business, having arrived recently.

The witness says that he went to help the police in P da L with the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. She (MW) said that this was typical of him, to want to help. She added that he had even delayed medical tests in the UK in order to be in Portugal and accompany the investigation. Michaela appeared a bit displeased, due to the fact that their Internet business had experienced delays.

She does not know whether Michaela had a relationship with Robert as he was never referred to on this level and she never saw them together.

When asked about Michaela,s personality, the witness said she was a very cold person namely in the interpersonal relationships with her mother in law, daughter and with friends. At the time she was married to Luis Antonio (whom she still lives with) she did not work and liked to take care of her appearance. Given the coldness of her personality, they never had a close relationship.

The she speaks, Portuguese, German and English well. She says she had good computer skills. She has not seen her in the OC area for almost 7 years, which is when she came to live with Luis Antonio, who cleaned the resort pool.

Recently Michaela has been working in real estate companies. At this moment, as far as the witness knows, she has a home selling business with Robert on Internet and that they are in the process of expansion, to include other services.

She recognises Robert as the man presented as a suspect in the abduction of Madeleine on the television during the last days and as resident of Casa Liliana situated close to where the events occurred.

According to what Michaela told her, he spends a lot of time in England. Due to the witness’s profession she passed by the house every day (the OC has various lost nearby, called Palm Bay) and she has never seen that man there, which makes her think that he spent a lot of time abroad or in another place.

As far as she knows, Michaela was also in the UK with her daughter during the carnival holiday in 2007.

No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.