OFFICIAL INQUIRY FILES and DOCUMENTS
ELISA ANGELA DIAS ROMAO

This information belongs to the Ministério Público in Portimão, Portugal.
It was released to the public on 4 August 2008 in accordance with Portuguese Law

Trainee Receptionist

789 to 791 Witness statement of Elisa Angela Dias Romao 2007.05.09

03-Processo 3 page 789

TRANSLATION BY CAMERINA

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Name: ELISA Angela Dias Romao, Funcionario
Position: Trainee Receptionist

Place of work: Luz Ocean Club - Praia da Luz, Lagos.


She states that she is present in her capacity as a witness. Deponent is an employee of the Luz Ocean Club, LOC, under a contract, works at the receptions of the Garden Club and the Club (where the Millenium restaurant is located). This is the second season she works for the LOC, always in the same job. Her days off are Sundays and Mondays.

Regarding the facts under investigation, the deponent says that she became aware of same on the following day, that is on the Friday. In the morning, when she arrived to work at the Club, she heard somebody say that an English child had disappeared the night before, and that at that time nobody knew anything of her whereabouts. Regarding the other elements that she established later, the deponent states that she learned of these through the media and from other comments made by guests. She thinks that nobody knows what really happened.

With respect to the group made up by the couple, the missing child and her two siblings, whom she later found out were twins, the deponent remembers having seen them at the "Garden Club", where the pool and the Tapas restaurant are located. They seemed to be a normal family, like all couples in the group, and she never saw any strange or suspicious details.

The deponent clarifies that she worked at the reception of the “Garden Club” on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, including lunch time. She recalls seeing the couple and their three children leaving the premises, because they had to go through the reception area to do this. They went in the direction of the apartment where the deponent presumes they had lunch. She thinks that they always left between 12H30 and 13HOO.---Around 14H00 the couple returned; indeed it was what almost everyone having children did, and delivered the three children to the care of the nannies. She does not know if the three were together, or if they were separated due to the difference in their ages.

The deponent recalls that the parents then spent most of the time at the Garden Club, at activities such as tennis, and although they were part of a group of four couples (the reservation was always made for 9 adults), they only got together at dinner time.

The couple only left the Garden Club after the children had finished their dinner, which was served by the nannies inside this facility, and which began around 17H00/18H00. It was afterwards that they again left with the children for their respective apartments.

She recalls that she always had the idea that when the couples went out they always took their respective children with them; she never noticed any of the children leaving without their parents.

Her working hours were between 09H00 and 19H00, and she was never present when the group had dinner.

Regarding the days when the events took place, she remembers that her working day was normal and she did not notice anything strange that could be of interest for the proceedings. On this same day, at around 17h30 she remembers having left the reception area and going to get her salary, but she does not remember having seen Madeleine and her parents enter the Tapas restaurant.

She returned to the reception area around 19h00, when she finished work for the day; she learned of the events on Friday morning from a co-worker.

She does not remember this year whether somebody entered the reception and went to the pool or the restaurant without due authorization. In any event, on previous years, namely last year, several children and adults entered the premises without authorization in order to use the pool.

She never noticed suspicious individuals or vehicles in the vicinity of the complex. Likewise, she does not remember anybody asking about the operations of the complex or of the children's facilities in particular.

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