What happened to Joana Cipriano in Portugal and why has it been compared to the Madeleine McCann case?
JOANA Cipriano was just eight years old when she disappeared on September 12 2004 in the Algarve region of Portugal.
But what happened to her and why is it compared with Madeleine McCann’s case? Here’s what you need to do.
Who is Joana Cipriano?
Joana Cipriano was born in Portugal on May 31 1996.
She was sent out to get tuna and milk from a local shop in the Figueira, a village near Portimão on the Algarve, on the evening of September 12 2004.
A neighbour saw her about 200 yards from her house walking back from the shop — the last time she was seen alive.
An investigation ultimately led police to conclude that Joana had been murdered by her mum, Leonor Cipriano, and her uncle, João Cipriano.
The prosecution in the case argued that the pair killed her because Joana had witnessed them having incestuous sex.
Leonor confessed to the murder (though later retracted the confession) and João confessed to assaulting Joana, cutting her up and putting her remains in a fridge.
The fridge was then driven to Spain in an old car to be crushed and burned.
When asked if he had sexually abused his niece, João replied: “I did not harm her — I only killed her”.
Joana’s body was never found and her murder trial was the first in Portuguese legal history to be conducted without a body being discovered.
Why is her case compared to Madeleine McCann’s?
Figueira — from where Joana vanished — is only seven miles away from where Madeleine McCann disappeared three years later.
In both cases, the mums launched public campaigns to help find their missing daughters before local police investigated them as potential suspects (though Kate McCann was never charged).
Neither of the crime scenes were properly secured by police and both investigations also involved Chief Inspector Gonçalo Amaral.
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In Joana’s case, Amaral was convicted of covering up for fellow officers who were alleged to have assaulted Leonor Cipriano during her interrogation.
Although he was not present during the alleged incident and three officers that were there were acquitted, Amaral was found to have falsified police documents and was given an 18-month sentence.
He was convicted while working on the Madeleine case and was replaced with deputy national director of the Polícia Judiciária, Paulo Rebelo, who then took over the probe.
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