McCANN'S IN THE PUBLIC EYE

WITNESS STATEMENT FROM LIZELLE JOUBERT MARAIS - 16.11.07

OFFICIAL INQUIRY FILES and DOCUMENTS

GOLFINHO / DOLPHIN RESTAURANT
LIZELLE JOUBERT MARAIS

GOLFINHO / DOLPHIN 16 NOV 07

Witness testimony of Lizelle Joubert Marais on 2007/11/16 with faceless picture of bagman

TRANSLATIONS BY ALBYM

NOTE: There are several OCR errors in this statement, all created when it was burned to the DVD. I have either made a "best guess" or ignored them, so the translation is not always word-for-word.

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Witness Statement 2007/11/16 11h30 DIC Portimao

Lizelle Joubert Marais

Despite being a South African national she understands Portuguese though better in its oral form than written.

She states being the chef in the GOLFINHO restaurant at 14-A, rua da Calheta, Praia da Luz, where she had performed her duties for about 5 years. She is married to Adriaan, the chief of staff ["the boss"] of the restaurant.

She found out about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann on 3 May, at around 23h00/23h30 when she left the restaurant. Her husband and the owner were still in a bar while she was on the floor above the restaurant where she stayed on occasions. She was in bed when she heard noise in the street seeming to come from some people who were calling in loud voices for MADIE, MADIE. She called her husband and it was he who told her that a young girl had disappeared from an apartment of the Ocean Club. She stayed at home with her baby, waiting for her husband to come home, which he did after having helped with the search for the child and he told her exactly what had happened.

Asked about if, during the days before or after the disappearance, she had seen anything strange in the area, she said Yes, she had. The restaurant where she worked was about 700 metres from the Ocean Club, near to the church. Some days previously, not knowing exactly when but it had been during the previous week, she became aware of an individual in the 'square' next to the restaurant where she worked, who had behaved in manner she thought strange. She worked in the kitchen and through a door there she had seen that person in the square at various times. The person used the public telephone [in the square] for long periods of time, always for more than 10 minutes. To her, the person did not appear to be either a tourist or a resident of the town. One time she had passed close to him and had felt 'strange' but did not know why.

She described him as being male, white with tanned skin, around 30 years old, between 1,70 and 1,75m tall, and of normal build. She recalled he had dark hair, it looked like dark brown, long at the back but not fully covering his neck. She does not remember the front because he sometimes wore a cap. She cannot describe the hat or its colour. She did not see any glasses but is sure that he had no beard or moustache. She remembers that his eyes were small but not their colour. He had a small mouth with thin lips. She does not recall any other details. She did not hear him speak so she does not know if he was Portuguese or foreign, but she had the feeling that he was not Portuguese. She understood? [thought; imagined] him to be English. She would recognise him again, in person or by photograph. She recalls seeing him wear a red T-shirt but does not recall any details about his trousers or footwear.

As already said, the individual came there on several days, not knowing exactly which. She remember that the last time she saw him was two or three days before the girl's disappearance. He never returned [She never saw him return]. Being shown the portraits created as part of the investigation along with various photographs from the case file, she did not recognise the individual nor any similarity. With respect to the picture made by Jane Tanner, attached, she affirmed that the hair in the picture was similar to that of the individual she had seen, as referred to in this statement, such as the colour and the hairstyle. Also the build of the person in the picture appeared similar but she couldn't affirm it was the same person due the lack of facial features in the picture.

Despite not being able to say on exactly which days he was in the area, she could affirm that he was there once at lunchtime and on other days between 16h00 and 18h00.

Nothing more said, I have read the statement, ratify it and will sign.
E&OE