Luis Ferro and Joao Carlos Silva Batista - washing machine and fixing shutters

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I've been doing quite a lot of research and I'm grateful for all the information on this site. I've been reading the statements provided by staff and I noticed that maintenance staff, Luis Ferro and Joao Carlos Silva Batista testify they were in 5a with Kate Mccann between 10-11am Tuesday May 1, showing KM how to use the washing machine and fixing shutters. They do not specify how long they were there but LF says it was between 10-11am.This is important because KM is supposed to be watching Maddie playing mini tennis during this time.

That's a good question and one I have not seen asked before.

madeleine by KATE MCCANN

On Tuesday 1 May, after my tennis lesson, two maintenance workers came to have a look at our washing machine, which I couldn’t get to operate. Gerry had also managed to break the window shutter mechanism in our bedroom shortly after we’d arrived, in spite of the sign asking guests to be gentle with it. What can I say? It’s the Gerry touch . .

The two men looked at the washing machine first. Once they’d established that the problem was something simple – not quite as simple as me not having pressed the ‘on’ button, but not much more complicated than that – I went to meet Gerry, whose lesson had started at ten-fifteen, leaving them to fix the shutter.
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Luis Felipe Monteiro Ferro - maintenance worker.   Witness statement 7th May 2007

Questioned, the deponent states that in the scope of his functions and the day before the disappearance of the child, he only came into contact with the mother of the same, whose name he does not know.

This happened on Tuesday, the first of May, in the sequence of a service that he had to carry out in the apartment where this family was staying, also known as Block G5, Letter A

This serviced was carried out between 10H00 and 11H00, together with his colleague who is named Mario, and consisted of the repair of a blind in the room of the parents of the minor.

In this sequence, the deponent and his colleague also taught the mother of the child how to operate the washing machine.

The woman in question was alone in the apartment.

The only places of the apartment where the deponent and his colleague entered was the kitchen and the parent's bedroom.
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Joao Carlos Silva Batista - Head of Maintenance.   Witness statement 8th May 2007

He has worked at the OC for about 19 years as Assistant Gardener and Head of Maintenance. His hours are from 08.00 - 13.00 and from 14.00 - 18.00, although the time he leaves depends on the kind of work he is doing.

As Head of Maintenance he carried out repairs and modifications to the apartments and rooms, mainly remodelling requested by clients, after presenting a quote as well as aesthetic and other repairs in the OC.

That for the exercise of his functions he is helped by Jaime Graca, who accompanies him and carries out the designated services.

That the services he carried out are designated by the OC director.

That to carry out his work he sometimes needs the keys to the apartments and these are always requested from maintenance or from the OC reception. Whenever a key is requested, a register is made of the request.

Most of the services he provides are large or medium scale jobs, for which the apartments and rooms need to be unoccupied. He carries out services in OC rooms and apartments as well as work for private clients.

The keys to the apartments remain in his or in his colleague's possession until the work is finished when they are returned to the place where they were given them.

When the rooms are occupied all the services are done by the maintenance team.

That he knows about the situation in the OC relating to the disappearance of the little girl, having been informed on the same day, at about 22.30 by phone by the OC administrator, who had contacted his wife, Silvia Batista.

That he immediately left for the OC where he arrived at about 23.00 and immediately began to search the resort and the beach area, searching in all the places where the child might be. The searches were carried out by employees from the Tapas and the restaurant who had just finished their shifts and by some local people. He continued searching until about 04.00 when he returned home with his wife.

Whilst he was at the resort he did not see anything unusual.

That the room from which the girl disappeared was sealed off after the arrival of the GNR, as there were some persons inside the room, whom he supposed were the girl's parents, their friends, the OC Administrator, who had called his wife, Silvia Batista, to come to the site to help with translations.

That he does not know under which circumstances the girl disappeared or who could have information leading to her return.

That on 03/05/2007 he began work at 08.30 when he arrived at the club, had a cup of coffee and checked with the gardener who was doing maintenance. That he checked all the ongoing works under his responsibility, mainly a room in block 2D in the club and then number 26 in the Ocean Garden, he drove around the resort several times, checking works under his responsibility. He went home at about 19.00.

He saw nothing strange or suspicious during the preceding days.
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Mario Domingos Moreira - handyman.   Witness statement 8th May 2007.

When asked about the events being investigated he says that he only saw the girl's mother once. This happened during the exercise of his functions, and after instruction from his superiors he went to apartment 5 A.

His services had been requested because the shutters in the bedroom at the back of the apartment, facing the Tapas restaurant were damaged and with the aim of providing the mother with instructions regarding the operation of the washing machine. When asked, he said that the damage to the blinds was centred on the pull-handle, limiting their opening. He says that this kind of damage is quite frequent, given the fact of the need for some initial force to raise the shutter, sometimes associated with a lack of knowledge of the mechanism on the part of some of the tourists, who keep applying force, contrary to what is required, and which results in the violent destruction of the respective handles.

When questioned, he says that he never works alone, he is always part of a team of two. The other individual is his colleague, Luis Ferro, who accompanied him in the execution of the repairs mentioned above.
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This is a non starter in my opinion, Kate McCann could have been in the apartment for only a couple of minutes.

My question is - why would Kate McCann suddenly decide she wanted to use the washing machine on Tuesday 1st May, three days after their arrival and only four days (three days if you exclude departure day) before their scheduled departure?  OK, they had three very young messy children to tend to but who wants to spend their time, when only on holiday for a week, washing?

Tuesday 1st May - it's that day again.

Gerry reported the washing machine problem either on the Monday, or early Tuesday morning. (See Sandro Sampaio da Silva statement.) There was no key request on docket whereby the handymen had to bring their own key.  So Gerry must have said that someone would be in the apartment.  Kate was there, apparently after she finished her morning tennis.
I think Kate would have remained there while the maintenance men were there, just like you would do at home for fear of them touching any valuables, or looking in the ‘knicker drawer’.
I do not believe that she went to watch Gerry playing tennis, or indeed ran back to get the camera (tennis photo.)
As regards using the washing machine, it would not take much time to put on a cycle of washing (for instance all Madeleine’s clothes), and then hang them to dry later.
With 3 small children, I would have availed of the washing machine but I believe in this case, it was out of necessity for the clean-up.
The washing machine request was written first on the docket, before the window blinds, making me believe that it was of importance. 
They did not need this as any form of alibi as they already had their morning tennis.

Workers requested by the McCanns in 5A tuesday and left alone.
Cleaner allowed in by the McCanns in 5A wednesday and left alone.
A seeming level  of normality.

Nothing to see in 5A on tuesday or wednesday then.

More jigsaw pieces.

I don't have a clue about possible scenarios.

All I know is that abduction doesn't fit any evidence.

roz wrote:Gerry reported the washing machine problem either on the Monday, or early Tuesday morning. (See Sandro Sampaio da Silva statement.) There was no key request on docket whereby the handymen had to bring their own key.  So Gerry must have said that someone would be in the apartment.  Kate was there, apparently after she finished her morning tennis.
I think Kate would have remained there while the maintenance men were there, just like you would do at home for fear of them touching any valuables, or looking in the ‘knicker drawer’.
I do not believe that she went to watch Gerry playing tennis, or indeed ran back to get the camera (tennis photo.)
As regards using the washing machine, it would not take much time to put on a cycle of washing (for instance all Madeleine’s clothes), and then hang them to dry later.
With 3 small children, I would have availed of the washing machine but I believe in this case, it was out of necessity for the clean-up.
The washing machine request was written first on the docket, before the window blinds, making me believe that it was of importance. 
They did not need this as any form of alibi as they already had their morning tennis.

Thank you Roz you have added to my understanding! I wish we knew when exactly GM approached maintenance and asked for help with shutters and washing machine. The evidence of cadaver is established, so I want to know exactly when Gerry felt confident enough to allow maintenance workers into the apartment. We know JCS Batista's day off was Monday -  I believe a lot could be inferred if we knew when he was contacted - was it Monday or Tuesday? Rhetorical question...  Very intriguing!

I read in various reviews about PdL (one which I cannot find at the moment) that a guest there had a problem using the washing machine, and it turned out that the water valve behind the machine had been turned off.
It could have been something as simple as that.
Also regarding the request, it is very possible that it was filed early that Tuesday morning at reception.
·         Reviewed 13 August 2009
·         Maid service was very good - they came in 3 times per week, changing towels twice a week and linen once a week. If we had decided to bake a cake while we were there, we had all we needed! Our only gripe was there were only 3 wine glasses and 3 cereal bowls, and on reflection I can't understand why we did not let Ocean Club know because they would have sorted that out in an instant. We experienced problems with hot water supply and the Ocean Club reception were really efficient at getting someone out - a maintenance man arrived within 15 minutes. Annoyingly the problem reccurred the next day, once again they were out to fix it within minutes. He diagnosed a faulty thermostat and replaced it, and came back to check that all was well on the following two days.
It is also equally possible that the request was made sometime on Monday.
Unfortunately Sandro da Silva does not say when the request was made by Gerry.

roz wrote:I read in various reviews about PdL (one which I cannot find at the moment) that a guest there had a problem using the washing machine, and it turned out that the water valve behind the machine had been turned off.
It could have been something as simple as that.
Also regarding the request, it is very possible that it was filed early that Tuesday morning at reception.
·         Reviewed 13 August 2009
·         Maid service was very good - they came in 3 times per week, changing towels twice a week and linen once a week. If we had decided to bake a cake while we were there, we had all we needed! Our only gripe was there were only 3 wine glasses and 3 cereal bowls, and on reflection I can't understand why we did not let Ocean Club know because they would have sorted that out in an instant. We experienced problems with hot water supply and the Ocean Club reception were really efficient at getting someone out - a maintenance man arrived within 15 minutes. Annoyingly the problem reccurred the next day, once again they were out to fix it within minutes. He diagnosed a faulty thermostat and replaced it, and came back to check that all was well on the following two days.
It is also equally possible that the request was made sometime on Monday.
Unfortunately Sandro da Silva does not say when the request was made by Gerry.

Thanks Roz - I've been reading Trip Advisor and read the same sort of reviews. The washing machines needed to be 'pulled out' and not straightforward before they could be used is mentioned. Also read the same about maid service - Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays for maid service with sheets and towels changed on Wednesdays. Do you know if the maid was able to access 5a on Monday? I'm trying to establish this but can't find any evidence, other than the supervisor saying this is the routine. If it could be established whether or not the maid entered on Monday or not, this would very significant in my opinion.

What's_up_doc? wrote:

roz wrote:I read in various reviews about PdL (one which I cannot find at the moment) that a guest there had a problem using the washing machine, and it turned out that the water valve behind the machine had been turned off.
It could have been something as simple as that.
Also regarding the request, it is very possible that it was filed early that Tuesday morning at reception.
·         Reviewed 13 August 2009
·         Maid service was very good - they came in 3 times per week, changing towels twice a week and linen once a week. If we had decided to bake a cake while we were there, we had all we needed! Our only gripe was there were only 3 wine glasses and 3 cereal bowls, and on reflection I can't understand why we did not let Ocean Club know because they would have sorted that out in an instant. We experienced problems with hot water supply and the Ocean Club reception were really efficient at getting someone out - a maintenance man arrived within 15 minutes. Annoyingly the problem reccurred the next day, once again they were out to fix it within minutes. He diagnosed a faulty thermostat and replaced it, and came back to check that all was well on the following two days.
It is also equally possible that the request was made sometime on Monday.
Unfortunately Sandro da Silva does not say when the request was made by Gerry.

Thanks Roz - I've been reading Trip Advisor and read the same sort of reviews. The washing machines needed to be 'pulled out' and not straightforward before they could be used is mentioned. Also read the same about maid service - Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays for maid service with sheets and towels changed on Wednesdays. Do you know if the maid was able to access 5a on Monday? I'm trying to establish this but can't find any evidence, other than the supervisor saying this is the routine. If it could be established whether or not the maid entered on Monday or not, this would very significant in my opinion.

Was the washing machine broken though. Sure I read that Kate said it was that she didn't how to turn it on.

From my understanding, the occupied apartments are cleaned on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The cleaning starts at 10.00am, and preference is given to those apartments with children.
(Tuesdays and Thursdays are refuse collection days.)
 
Maria’s daughter Fatima Espada (cleaner) states;
 
She never cleaned any of these apartments referred to as they were allocated to her mother. Her mother never mentioned anything strange to her, either before or after the girl's disappearance that could be related to the disappearance. The only comment she remembered concerned the clutter in the apartments, mainly clothing which was left all around the place. She thinks that her mother cleaned the apartments in that block on Monday and Wednesday (02-05).
 
Maria Julia Serafim da Silva
5As cleaner
With respect to her activities performed directly in the apartment, she declares that the last time she entered the apartment was on the Wednesday prior to the events, specifically on the 2nd of May, when she cleaned the apartment. When questioned, she declares that as opposed to what is established, on Thursday the 3rd and due to other chores, she did not have time to collect the garbage bags.
On the following Friday, the day after the child disappeared, she states that due to police formalities, she did not clean apartment A.
 

Maria da Silva does not state that she did not clean apartment 5A on Monday, as per normal schedule

I've just finished reading Kate Mccann's book and I'm intrigued as to why she recounts this episode. She contradicts Luis Ferro who, by saying they 'also taught the mother how to use the washing machine',  implies that the shutters were attended to first - which in turn shows KM would be there for the entire duration. I'm also curious about what KM says about the shutters:

"Gerry had also managed to break the window mechanism in our bedroom, shortly after we'd arrived, in spite of the sign asking guests to be gentle with it. What can I say... It's the Gerry touch! "


Kate tries to engage the reader with a bit of Bonhomie - we-all-know-what-men-are-like-don't-we-girls type of thing - but does she really think that readers are going to believe that Dr Gerry is really that cack-handed? Is it more the case that Dr Gerry was instead experimenting, in order to ascertain what happened when you apply too much force? The very inclusion of this domestic incident in the book suggests it has some significance beyond  what is told and Im not sure she achieves her goal, as many readers will find it hard to believe that Gerry Mccann didn't at least think he knew what he was doing.

I have not read the book ‘madeleine’, but I have seen extracts from it on this site.
When Gerry went to the reception to report the washing machine and shutters, (Monday or early Tuesday morning) he must have said that someone would be in the apartment, and arranged the time at 10.00 am (when Kate’s tennis was over.)
I think it would have been very important for them to get the washing machine operating that day.
The repair to the shutter was not so urgent, but the damage to it could indeed have been a test-run; the reporting of it a ploy to focus attention on the ‘flimsy’ shutters.
Kate’s mentioning of this in her book allows her to play it all down.  It allows her to suggest that it was of no importance (which makes me think it was); that she left them to it.  It allows her to say that watching Gerry play tennis was important, and most of all it allows her to say that she ran back to the apartment to get her camera to take the ‘famous tennis photo’ of Madeleine.
I believe that Kate did stay in the apartment that Tuesday morning for the entire duration, and that Kate would have begun the washing of Madeleine’s clothes immediately on the departure of the maintenance staff.

I agree with everything you have said above Roz.. In the grand scheme of things and in a book with such a harrowing story at its core, the inclusion of these seemingly banal domestic details do seem odd and they must have some deeper significance in my opinion too. Regarding the possible dry run with the shutters, I wonder if an assumption was made that the same as could be done on the inside could also be done from the outside? It would be much more suspicious to attempt this from the outside - much too risky. Only Kate McCann's finger prints o  the shutters and prints consistent with her opening the shutters from the inside. Where are Gerry's prints?

... I wanted to add also that the issue of the shutters appears again later in KM's book when she tells us about how GM inspected the shutters from the outside shortly after Madeleine disappeared:

Rushing outside he made the sickening discovery that it could be raised from this side too, not just from the inside as we'd thought


What I find disconcerting is the priority GM gives to this task and you have to wonder why. Secondly, GM would have discovered that the shutters could not be opened to the same extent from the outside, so why was this 'sickening' rather than baffling? Did someone assume that the shutters could be fully jemmied open from the outside and on discovering it was not the case, feel the need to investigate? Why did GM tamper with the shutters at such a critical time? KM tells us that GM closed them on the inside and then went outside to see if they could be opened from the this side. Did GM panic, knowing they had been opened from the inside? Why was he wasting critical time testing his shutter hypothesis when he should have been looking for his daughter? It really doesn't stack up...

BlueBag wrote:Workers requested by the McCanns in 5A tuesday and left alone.
Cleaner allowed in by the McCanns in 5A wednesday and left alone.
A seeming level  of normality.

Nothing to see in 5A on tuesday or wednesday then.

More jigsaw pieces.

I don't have a clue about possible scenarios.

All I know is that abduction doesn't fit any evidence.

Great points! And they had the key, it all fits if they were possibly trying to frame others? All speculation on my part obviously, but its quoted from the official files, so yet again how can it be dismissed!

I will add to my comments on 14.03.1 and say that also of extreme importance to Kate and Gerry that Tuesday, was to make sure that the maintenance staff did not do any ‘snooping around’.  One of the cots had been placed in K and G’s bedroom (as seen by Maria J Silva Wednesday morning).  This was to stop the twins or anyone from opening the wardrobe doors. (It also served to have the twins in separate bedrooms).
I believe that the real reason Kate ran back to the apartment was to keep a very close eye on the maintenance staff.

roz wrote:I will add to my comments on 14.03.1 and say that also of extreme importance to Kate and Gerry that Tuesday, was to make sure that the maintenance staff did not do any ‘snooping around’.  One of the cots had been placed in K and G’s bedroom (as seen by Maria J Silva Wednesday morning).  This was to stop the twins or anyone from opening the wardrobe doors. (It also served to have the twins in separate bedrooms).
I believe that the real reason Kate ran back to the apartment was to keep a very close eye on the maintenance staff.

thanks for your posts roz, 

`I believe that the real reason Kate ran back to the apartment was to keep a very close eye on the maintenance staff.`

should that have been the case, that must have unpleasant to say the least

Cannot help thinking that a light was deliberately shone on the maintenance men being in the apartment for some reason.  We might guess what that reason might have been.  Most women know how to use a washing machine and if they didn't they could work it out.  The shutters were not broken so why did they say Gerry had broken them?  Why if he had been touching the shutters were Gerry's finger prints not found all over them?  Only Kate's finger print was found.  Where for that matter were the finger prints of the maintenance men if they had been 'fixing' them?  It seems that we should look at what should be there, but isn't there, as well.

Yorkshirgel wrote:Cannot help thinking that a light was deliberately shone on the maintenance men being in the apartment for some reason.  We might guess what that reason might have been.  Most women know how to use a washing machine and if they didn't they could work it out.  The shutters were not broken so why did they say Gerry had broken them?  Why if he had been touching the shutters were Gerry's finger prints not found all over them?  Only Kate's finger print was found.  Where for that matter were the finger prints of the maintenance men if they had been 'fixing' them?  It seems that we should look at what should be there, but isn't there, as well.

Hi Yorkshirgel. The shutters they mended were the ones from the parents bedroom patio door. This patio door leads out to a narrow strip of balcony on which Eddie alerted.
Kate commented that it was Gerry who broke them by using brute force, or words to that effect. As these shutters were large ones they would require more effort to open them with the pulley tape. It is common when using too much force that the blind goes up too high and gets caught in the mechanism box.

BlueBag wrote:Workers requested by the McCanns in 5A tuesday and left alone.
Cleaner allowed in by the McCanns in 5A wednesday and left alone.
A seeming level  of normality.

Nothing to see in 5A on tuesday or wednesday then.

More jigsaw pieces.

I don't have a clue about possible scenarios.

All I know is that abduction doesn't fit any evidence.

Just a thought really but if we assume that Madeleine died on April 29th as some of us now believe, Kate would have already used the washing machine, probably on Saturday night.  Could the request for training on how to use it later, be nothing more than an attempt to disprove that any washing was done earlier?  A sort of, "how could we have cleaned up on Saturday? We didn't even know how to operate the machine then". Could the cleaner have been allowed in merely to prove that there was nothing unusual at that time?  After all, there was nothing wrong with the machine and what woman wouldn't be able to work out how to operate a simple washing machine?

sharonl wrote:

BlueBag wrote:Workers requested by the McCanns in 5A tuesday and left alone.
Cleaner allowed in by the McCanns in 5A wednesday and left alone.
A seeming level  of normality.

Nothing to see in 5A on tuesday or wednesday then.

More jigsaw pieces.

I don't have a clue about possible scenarios.

All I know is that abduction doesn't fit any evidence.

Just a thought really but if we assume that Madeleine died on April 29th as some of us now believe, Kate would have already used the washing machine, probably on Saturday night.  Could the request for training on how to use it later, be nothing more than an attempt to disprove that any washing was done earlier?  A sort of, "how could we have cleaned up on Saturday? We didn't even know how to operate the machine then". Could the cleaner have been allowed in merely to prove that there was nothing unusual at that time?  After all, there was nothing wrong with the machine and what woman wouldn't be able to work out how to operate a simple washing machine?

We could also speculate that the shutters were broken in preparation for the false live abduction that CEOP was planning as highlighted by the WBM. This had to be cancelled because of Madeleine's unexpected death.
This shutter break-in idea was returned to the script for the 2nd false abduction on the Thursday evening, but somehow it did not get done, although it was reported that it had by all the families.

Hi Nina.  The point I am making is that these shutter fixers seem to me to be deliberately mentioned to put them in the apartment and therefore might be worth interviewing.  I am not really bothered which shutters they were but thanks for pointing it out.  Exactly like sharoni pointed out with the washing machine story, Kate seems to make insinuations which are slightly disguised imo. in that case, 'we didn't know how to operate the washing machine' in the shutters case 'these men were there so should be interviewed'.  A lot of what she says has hidden meanings.

Gerry McCann was asked about the cadaver dogs alerting to the scent of a dead body in apartment 5A and their rental car.
"I can tell you that we've obviously looked at evidence about cadaver dogs and they're incredibly unreliable," McCann replied.


Surely parents of a missing child would welcome all efforts to find her wouldn't they instead of rubbishing them.