OFFICIAL INQUIRY FILES and DOCUMENTS
SVETLANA STARIKOVA VITORINO

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

KITCHEN ASSISTANT TAPAS BAR  05 MAY 07

670 to 672 Witness statement of Svetlana Starikova Vitorino 2007.05.08

TRANSLATIONS BY INES

3-Processos Vol III Pages 670-672
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03_VOLUMEIIIa_Page_671
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Witness Statement

Svetlana Starikova Vitorino

Date: 2007-05-08


Occupation: Kitchen assistant


Place of work: Tapas Restaurant



She comes to the process as a witness. She has worked at the OC since 2006, but only during the summer period from April to November. She currently works in the Tapas Restaurant, near to the apartment the girl disappeared from. This year she will work until November, having begun on 19th April.

She is a kitchen assistant and normally works from 14.30 to 23.00. She has Saturdays and Sundays off.

During the times meals are served, she works outside the restaurant for some of the time, near to the grill and it is possible that she saw the girl on some occasion. However, she says that she does not have a clear idea of Madeleine, as many children were about, who looked quite similar to her. She can also say that she has an idea of the group that dined at a table at the Tapas esplanade, of nine adults, which Madeleine belonged to.

This group would dine at about 21.00/21.30 and she remembers that her colleagues called them the "Tennis Group", as they were a very happy group.

The group's children did not dine with them. She remembers that on the day the child disappeared there was some confusion, with some people who left the table after ordering, one of the meals even being sent back, as someone had asked them to delay the meal for a little while.

She doe not know very well for what reason the adults rose from the table, she thinks it concerns the girl's disappearance. She did see that one of the plates was returned almost intact and they were asked to "delay" its cooking for a while, it was a grilled beef steak ordered by a man, whom she cannot identify.


At a certain moment, only an older woman remained at the table. The witness saw afterwards that they were looking for a girl, many people were helping to search.

When the witness left for home she observed the same, there were many people around.

On the following day when she arrived for work and saw the police presence, she assumed that the girl had not yet been found, which was later confirmed.

When questioned she says that she did not see anyone strange or any unusual behaviour, but that as she only goes outside to look at the grills, she did not pay much attention.

No more is said.

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