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2.1: Fatima’s Witness Statement
Full witness statement: source
This is the key paragraph taken from that witness statement when the cleaner at the apartments where the McCanns were staying, Fatima, describes her sighting of the McCann family:
“She states that this took place on Sunday 29th April, just before she finished her morning work shift (13.30) as she had the afternoon off that day. At about 13.15 she went to help her mother, who was cleaning apartment I of the same block (5) situated on the first floor. She clearly remembers seeing the girl accompanied by her siblings and mother leave their apartment (5 A) and walk to the stairs leading to the floor above. She was very close to them at a distance of about 1 metre, observing their movements for a few moments because she was charmed by them. Madeleine led the way with a plate (perhaps plastic) in her hand bearing a piece of bread. As regards the clothes she was wearing she only remembers a skirt but cannot recall its description. She noted, because she thought them nice, the type of shoes she was wearing, tennis shoes, light in colour she thinks, which had little lights along the soles, which lit up each time she stepped on the ground. Her siblings followed behind her, wearing the same king of shoes and each holding a piece of bread in their hands, their mother followed behind them without holding their hands. She seems to remember that the mother was also carrying a plate. Moments afterwards, perhaps the time it took to close the apartment door, the father came out and also headed to the apartment upstairs. When asked, she does not remember whether the father pulled the door closed or locked it with a key.”
In this statement we are told that Fatima ‘was charmed by’ the sight of three children and their mother ‘Mary’ as they were leaving their apartment. As the three children walk they are lit up by lights.
The story of ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ tells us that three children in the town of Fatima witnessed the mother Mary. They describe seeing a woman “shedding rays of light.”
These were the first connections that I identified, but when we look a bit closer we can see the allusions to this event are numerous.
Numbers
This is the first section of the key paragraph:
“… (13.30) as she had the afternoon off that day. At about 13.15 she went to help her mother, who was cleaning apartment I of the same block (5) situated on the first floor. She clearly remembers seeing the girl accompanied by her siblings and mother leave their apartment (5 A)”
All of these numbers are bunched together within a short space, but can you see the pattern? There are three number ones, three number threes and three number fives.
To make this allusion easier to spot, the writer twice makes-up the number 13 for us.
The anniversary of ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ is 13th May or 13/5.
Bread
In the statement, Fatima tells us the father was also with Kate ‘Marie’ and the three children, so how does he fit into all this? He doesn’t and this is signified by the carrying of the bread. The mother and three children are all carrying bread and Gerry is not. Bread has religious connotations and the writer uses this to highlight the characters he wants us to focus upon.
