As someone pointed out the rough treatment was likely given to her by cellmates. The police did not even need her confession for conviction. If she was maltreated, almost certainly it was out of rage for the heinousness of her crime. That kind of rough treatment, though it cannot be condoned, is a far cry from “torture”. jmho

The Case of Joana Cipriano

Joana Cipriano

The case of Joana Cipriano highlights serious omissions on the part of authorities who failed to spot that the little girl was being exploited and neglected. According to a neighbour of the girl, Joana seemed unnaturally mature for her age. “She has a bearing and an attitude greatly beyond her years. Instead of playing with other children, she seems to spend her time taking care of her two little brothers.” Another neighbour described her as the “Cinderella” of the household, seen at all times of the day and night in the village, running errands for her family.

In September of 2004, Algarve knew another tragic history which evolved a child death. In the beginning, the mother, Leonor Cipriano started for presenting complaint in the GNR on the alleged disappearance of her daughter Joana of 8 years.
The PJ still investigated the presumption abduction, but this theory fast became false when the proper mother of the girl passed of complaining to suspicion.
After long inquiries, happened what was feared. João Cipriano, uncle of the girl and brother of Leonor, confessed to the PJ that he and his sister had spanked the girl until the death. Months later, added to his confession that had quartered the corpse. According to João, the body had been cut in three parts and kept in a refrigerating coffer, where the PJ found blood vestiges that corresponded to the girl. The brothers had gotten rid themselves of the body in the following days of the crime, but they didn’t say where they had hidden it.

Court hears Joana’s horror story

Onlookers in the public gallery screamed abuse at the mother and uncle of Joana Cipriano as they were ferried to and from court.

The case, which has shocked the nation with its account of incest, murder and desecration, took just three days to be tried. The Public Ministry has pressed for jail terms of 24 years for the defendants, who are charged with qualified murder, as well as desecrating and concealing a body.
Joana disappeared, presumed murdered, in the Algarve village of Figueira, near Portimão. She was last seen buying food from a nearby café on the evening of September 12 last year. Prosecutors charge that she came home to find her mother, 34-year-old Leonor Cipriano, and her uncle, 32-year-old João Cipriano, having sex. Fearful that Joana would relate the incident to her stepfather, they allege that the couple decided to kill her. The prosecution also said that the couple had repeatedly mistreated Joana, recounting that she was little more than a “servant” in her own household.

The court heard a catalogue of horrifying details, including an earlier video taped confession from Joana’s uncle in which he related the circumstances of his niece’s murder. This video testimony is now the subject of an appeal from the defence team who claim it should be excluded because the couple exercised their right to remain silent during the trial. In the taped confession, João Cipriano said he and his sister hit Joana who then banged her head against a wall before collapsing, unconscious, onto the floor. João Cipriano claimed that he had wanted to call an ambulance but that his sister prevented him, telling him instead to go to Joana’s stepfather and inform him that she had disappeared.

Mother had appealed for daughter’s return

Her mother made subsequent public appeals for her daughter’s safe return, claiming that she had been kidnapped. But authorities began to suspect the couple after villagers noted their allegedly offhand reaction to Joana’s disappearance. Local shopkeeper Nídia Rochato remembered that Leonor neither cried nor seemed unduly concerned. When she commented on this to her, Leonor reportedly replied that she believed that her daughter was still alive.

The absence of a corpse delayed the arraignment process but the Public Ministry were able to indict the couple following statements from neighbours. Investigators also gathered forensic evidence at the house where Joana lived with her mother, stepfather and two brothers.

A total of 45 witnesses, mostly relatives and villagers, testified in court between Wednesday and Friday of last week. Four jurors (one man and three women) and three judges will decide the verdict. The opinions of the jurors – a 20-year-old student, a physiotherapist, a library employee and a waitress – will carry the same weight as the judges.

Joana’s uncle had contempt for human life

Leonor and João Cipriano, who have been held on remand for over a year, stood silently and without emotion as they heard prosecutor José Pinheiro outline his case. He described João Cipriano as a man who “has contempt for human life, psychopathic tendencies and difficulty in controlling impulses”. Pinheiro also castigated Joana’s mother for her “emotional instability, insensitivity and disregard for other people’s needs”. Only when Pinheiro announced that he was pressing for a 24-year jail term for both defendants did Leonor show emotion, sobbing uncontrollably.

Pinheiro explained why his team was pressing for such a long sentence. “The defendants’ guilt is heightened by their cold and calculating behaviour after their child’s death, as well as the devious manoeuvres they adopted to conceal the crime,” he said.

The trial included key testimony from Joana’s stepfather, António Leandro, who related that Leonor had confided to him that she had had a sexual relationship with her brother. He also told the court that during this conversation, which took place a few days after Joana’s disappearance, at judicial police headquarters, Leonor had admitted that she and her brother had killed the little girl.

A key element of the prosecution’s case rests on the fact that the couple dismembered the girl’s corpse. António Leandro, confronted with photographs of tools allegedly used by the couple, said he recognised a saw he had kept at home. In the video taped confession, João Cipriano admitted that the body of the girl was dismembered and placed in a refrigerated trunk. A doctor involved in the case, Albino Santana dos Santos, conceded that body parts, matching the size of a girl of Joana’s height, could have been stuffed inside the trunk.

Defence team challenges evidence

Despite the evidence, João Grado, Leonor Cipriano’s lawyer, still pressed for her acquittal, describing the evidence as “miserable”. João Cipriano’s lawyer, Sara Rosado, reminded the court that Joana’s body had never been found and dismissed the prosecution’s version of events. “João Cipriano has an intelligence level considerably lower than the average. How is it possible that such a person could deceive everyone for so long?” she asked the court.

But prosecutors disagreed, describing the case as a “veritable horror story that proves that reality really does surpass fiction”. “Nobody can say that they wanted to kill her when they hit. But later when they persisted, they knew that she was going to die. Their guilt is absolute – the victim was a minor, the daughter and niece of the defendants,” they told the court.

The corpse of the girl never was found, but this fact didn’t hinder the PJ to continue with the inquiries, and in November of 2005 the court of Portimão condemned Leonor to twenty years and four months of arrest and João Cipriano to a penalty of nineteen years and two months.

The absence of a corpse delayed the arraignment process but the Public Ministry were able to indict the couple following statements from neighbours. Investigators also gathered forensic evidence at the house where Joana lived with her mother, stepfather and two brothers.

Pinheiro castigated Joana’s mother for her “emotional instability, insensitivity and disregard for other people’s needs”. Only when Pinheiro announced that he was pressing for a 24-year jail term for both defendants did Leonor show emotion, sobbing uncontrollably.

Pinheiro explained why his team was pressing for such a long sentence. “The defendants’ guilt is heightened by their cold and calculating behaviour after their child’s death, as well as the devious manoeuvres they adopted to conceal the crime,” he said.

The trial included key testimony from Joana’s stepfather, António Leandro, who related that Leonor had confided to him that she had had a sexual relationship with her brother. He also told the court that during this conversation, which took place a few days after Joana’s disappearance, at judicial police headquarters, Leonor had admitted that she and her brother had killed the little girl.

A key element of the prosecution’s case rests on the fact that the couple dismembered the girl’s corpse. António Leandro, confronted with photographs of tools allegedly used by the couple, said he recognised a saw he had kept at home. In the video taped confession, João Cipriano admitted that the body of the girl was dismembered and placed in a refrigerated trunk. A doctor involved in the case, Albino Santana dos Santos, conceded that body parts, matching the size of a girl of Joana’s height, could have been stuffed inside the trunk.

…….
The couple received 16 year sentences.
What the report doesn’t say is the mother waited 2 days before she notified the police.
During that time she washed her house down with petrol.Blood was found in the freezer belonging to Joana which the mother claimed came from a nose bleed after she had given Joana a beating.

3 years later the brother has written a letter in which he claimed that Joana had been sold by her mother and was not dead.

……..

and again from another source:

Leoneor Ciprinao and his brother, who had a incestuous relationship, were both sentenced to 16 years in prison, for the killing of the child, Joana Cipriano.
They killed her, after she came back home earlier and found sister and brother (her mother and her uncle) having sexual relations. They cut the body in pieces, kept a few in the refrigerator, than burned and gave the remainings to the pigs, to eat . Samples of blood of the child, Joana Cipriano, were found inside her mother’s refrigerator.
Leonor Cipriano accused five officers of beating her. They were put on a police line-up and she didn’t recognize not even one of the alleged aggressors (including Chief-Inspector Gonçalo Amaral). The magistrate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office investigated the complaint of Leonor Cipriano against CID Chief-Inspector Gonçalo Amaral and the other five CID officers and decided to prosecute them, didn’t included in the accusation documents the results of the police line-up (which took place with Leonor Cipriano behind a two-way mirror…)
That magistrate is being sued by the Portuguese CID Officers union, and has a complaint with the Conselho Superior da Magistratura (”High Magistrates Council”) the body in charge of nominating and disciplining judges and magistrates from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Update: the trial of the officers who supposedly beaten up Leonor Cipriano started today 11th of February in the Court of Portimão.

aw0642

“If you meant a number for the parents to dial to complain about their kids, I think we should start a fund so they can dial the number free of charge and get really professional help.”

We could set up a premium charge number. That might turn out to be a good buisiness.

Must think about this idea. Good night.

What about a Parents Complaints Number?

If you meant they dial that number to complain about their parents, we also need a number to complain about the teachers, their friends etc.

If you meant a number for the parents to dial to complain about their kids, I think we should start a fund so they can dial the number free of charge and get really professional help. In fact I’ve got this nice spare bank account number….

“But its forbidden by law and they all know how to dial the [I don’t know how it’s called in the UK or Germany] lets call it Childrens Complaints Number.”

What about a Parents Complaints Number?

You can always smash them! They were not so wrong in the ancient times. A good threshing here and then is not wrong.

But its forbidden by law and they all know how to dial the [I don't know how it's called in the UK or Germany] lets call it Childrens Complaints Number. And we wouldn’t want to go to jail would we? So we’d better get them abducted.

“Now Ferdinand, why aren’t parents allowed to have their children abducted?
You know they can be little pain in the $sses don’t you?”

You can always smash them! They were not so wrong in the ancient times. A good threshing here and then is not wrong.

February 13th, 2008 at 1:11 am
If only they would admit it!

What? That they are a pain in the $ss?

Yeah, let’s hope so. Nite RR sleep well. Pleasant dreams.

Now Ferdinand, why aren’t parents allowed to have their children abducted?
You know they can be little pain in the $sses don’t you?
Always complaining, trying to stay up late, bigger allowances, a new mobile, never help with cleaning the house or ironing etc.

I promise, as long as she doesn’t start it.

Night all, pretty late over here too.

“Ferdinand
“At least they should be charged for neglect”
Why do you say this and if true do you have a link?”

It’s just my opinion. There should be made an example of! Parents should not be allowed to have their children abducted!

because there are some evil canivels coming, so bed time!

You must feel pretty desparate then