WITNESSES STATEMENT
Date: 2007/05/16 Time: 22:30 Location: DIC Portim'
Officer: John Carlos and Luis Pereira, Inspectors
There is no relationship as envisaged in Art.134, paragraph l of the CPP.
Moves to give evidence.
On the matter of the file he said:
--- He comes to the file as a witness.
--- Although of Russian nationality he fully understands the Portuguese language in its oral and written forms. He has been in Portugal for nearly seven years.
--- He lives with his parents. He has a Portuguese girlfriend.
--- Asked, he said he knows ROBERT MURAT since the summer of last year, he thinks. He came to know him through his neighbour R** A*****, who introduced the witness to ROBERT, claiming that he was a good designer of pages and websites. When speaking with ROBERT, he [RM] explained the type of page that he wanted, and the witness performed the work. It was a page of real estate for sale on the Internet, without resorting to a property firm, whose name was
www.romigen.com. After completing the draft he returned to him the copyright, as well as the username and password of the administrator. He recalls that the username was a 1 and the password 123, which were altered by ROBERT. After the delivery of the work, he had three weeks to make alterations, as a page of this size needs few changes after entry onto the net. He knows that this enterprise (Romigen) belonged to ROBERT and to a woman of the name MICHAELA, who hardly interfered, but was always present at meetings.
--- Other than this web site, he did not carry out any other work for ROBERT or for MICHAELA..
--- The meetings to which he refers were carried out in the bedroom in Robert's home at Casa Liliana and in the "Baptista" supermarket, situated in Praia da Luz.
--- He confirms that four years ago, he was at the home of ROBERT at the request of his mother, JANE MURAT (sic), to format her computer, so that the operating system would work faster, and to install an anti-virus. He did not know ROBERT at that time, nor did he know that JANE (sic) was his mother. That this contact was established by the mother through the firm where the witness worked called "125 computers", situated on the EN 125, Mexilhoeira Grande. As his employer failed to pay his salary, he left the firm around three years ago.
--- He has now formed a company called "Sergey Malinka", which is not yet on the Internet, for monetary reasons, since its introduction has high costs.
--- He had solely professional contacts with ROBERT, although RM had invited him to form a joint business, which was refused by the witness.
--- The first contact with ROBERT, as already said, was in last summer, to create the web page, and this occurred near the Church of the Light [the church in PdL], where there was only ROBERT and the witness, he believes at l0H00/11H00. He now alleges that RUI was not present personally, he only gave Robert's phone number to SM. The creation of the Internet page took about three weeks to a month. ROBERT paid him '3000 in total, in two equal installments. The first part of the payment was at the beginning of the work and the second when completed.
--- The second time they met was two or three days later, not knowing where this occurred but thinks it was in the "Baptista" supermarket. He does not have an indication of the time. This second meeting was to show him the page, although not complete, he believes on ROBERT's laptop.
--- Contacts for the meetings were made by mobile phone.
--- The other meetings, he does not know how many, but he claims there had been five or six times, occurred in a space of two or three days, where they gave information to the witness to carry out work on the page, or make changes. These meetings were conducted at his house, in the room opposite the gates, where he had the portable [computer], in the kitchen and in the "Baptista'. He does not know the specific days, but they were between 10H00 and 12H00 and in the afternoon between 18H00 and 21H00. This will have taken place in the summer of the past year. In some of those meetings MICHAELA was present.
--- After completing the page, he knows that ROBERT went to the UK. During the work, he had some problems with ROBERT, of a professional nature, because he demanded changes, and sometimes the witness forgot to perform them.
--- The last time they met was at the request of ROBERT, who called the witness to perform other work and improve the page. The day after the telephone contact he met with him together with MICHAELA. This meeting took place on 30 April 2007, so the contact call occurred on 29th. It was held in the "Baptista" supermarket, about 10H00. It was agreed that the witness would try the page, following indication from ROBERT, the indications being given by email. The witness' email: [e-mail address deleted]. The last telephone contact he had with ROBERT, he believes, was on May 11, when the witness was contacted, he thinks, at 16:00. This contact was to draw the attention of the witness, because the page opened incorrectly. He recalls trying to call ROBERT on 14th, however he [RM] had the appliance disconnected.
--- He describes his days as follows: he wakes at 09H00/10H00, has breakfast and leaves to go to deal with professional matters - visits to customers who have contracts and other clients who sought his services. He does not know the localities, or corresponding times. Usually no lunch, returning home at 18H00/19H00, where he consults his email and calendar. Rarely leaves at night, and when he does, he is accompanied by his girlfriend to go to the cinema or a restaurant. He usually schedules his services the day before he executes them. To travel between services he uses his car "Audi A4, registration 10-xx-xx'.
--- He states that he has all the appointments, with the data/hour and client's name booked [recorded] in his MDA and home computer.
--- Regarding the day 03 May he said that he did not meet, nor spoke with Robert. On this day he followed the routine described above.
--- As for the computers he had at home he said that one of them is his property, without brand, and the other two belong to customers, including a customer from Burgau, but he does not know the name, and another from the firm 'Avenue properties", with offices in Lagos and Praia da Luz. In his car he also had a laptop computer which he bought today in the "People's Radio" brand "Accer", for the sum of '599.
--- Also in Burgau he has a client by the name of "SALLY", a female, who is an aunt or cousin of ROBERT. She has a home called 'Salsalito' near the International School of Burgau. This visit occurred about a week ago, day 08 or 09.
--- With specific reference to the 03 May 2007, the witness confirms to have woken up at his parents' home, between 9 and 10am, having followed his normal professional activity, which is the service and repair of computers. He does not recall which customers were visited, since anything that occurs daily is registered in his MDA.
--- Also he does not recollect having lunch that day. He knows he got home by 18H00. He dined with the family and stayed in his room for the rest of the night, using the computer for games, Messenger, internet and may have carried out some repairs to the equipment of a client.
--- The next day, he learnt about the disappearance of a girl, through an image put in the shop window of a shop near to his house, having asked a member of staff what had happened, who also could not explain to him. He had a day without changes, that is, he did all tasks he had planned to perform.
--- He affirms not to have had any involvement in the efforts that were made by almost all local residents, in the search for the missing girl, named MADELEINE. This was due only to lack of time, since he had much work and could not fail in the commitments to customers.
--- With regard to the telephone contact he received on 03 May 07, at 23:30, made by ROBERT, he affirms that he does not recall having received such a call, but if this actually happened, it will have been to arrange a meeting with the same, for professional reasons.
--- He affirms he is not protecting ROBERT and never to have had the intention to take any kind of responsibility for him, including the activities undertaken for him on the computer.
--- He does not know any thing that can contribute to [finding the] the location of the girl, or for any another kind of explanation of the events under investigation.
--- No other information to provide for the file.
