Leonor and João Cipriano exchange accusations over sale of Joana, 22 years after disappearance
Siblings convicted of the death of Joana Cipriano, aged 8, break silence and accuse each other of having sold the child for 50,000 euros.
Cipriano siblings accuse each other of selling Joana two decades later
Correio da Manhã reports that Leonor Cipriano and her brother João Cipriano have spoken publicly again about the disappearance of Joana, Leonor's daughter, which occurred on 12 September 2004 in the village of Figueira, in Portimão. Twenty-two years after the crime, and after both were sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison for the child's murder — whose body has never been found — the two siblings reiterate their innocence and admit that Joana may be alive.
The accusations cross in opposite directions. "She sold her for 50,000 euros, that's what I heard," João stated in a SIC report. Leonor responded in kind: "Certain people have told me that he sold her." The girl's mother described the impact of the case on her life with a stark image: "A bomb fell there and destroyed my life," she said, adding that she survives by begging because she cannot find work.
The night of the disappearance
In Leonor's version, João had arrived in the village that day to stay at her house, where she lived with her partner, Joana and two other children. With insufficient food for dinner, Leonor asked her daughter to go to a café to buy milk and tinned goods. "I gave her 10 euros. It was eight o'clock and the café is 500 metres away," she recounted. According to Leonor, her brother followed the girl without apparent justification. "He had no money for beer, so why was he going to the café? When he came back he said he hadn't seen her."
The café owner confirmed that Joana was in the establishment making purchases. About two hours later, the mother appeared asking about her daughter. Later, when passing by Leonor's house, she found the two siblings calmly at the door, who told her that Joana had still not appeared and that they had already notified the GNR.
Confessions and retractions
The search began without result. Leonor and João were detained. João actually confessed to the crime to the Judicial Police on two occasions, stating that he had slapped the girl and that she had hit her head against the wall. He also led inspectors to several locations where the body supposedly would be, but no evidence was confirmed. Currently, he claims not to remember anything.
The PJ also investigated the hypothesis that the body had been dismembered and given to pigs, but that version was never proved. In court, neither of them made statements. Despite the body not being located, they were convicted — Leonor to 20 years, João to 19 — sentences which the Supreme Court of Justice would later reduce to 16 years and eight months for both. They were released on conditional liberty in 2019.
Alleged torture and convictions of inspectors
Leonor maintains the accusations of ill-treatment by the PJ during the investigation, a position she has sustained since the beginning of the proceedings. At the time, photographs of her face with visible marks were released. "I was tortured, I looked like a ball on the ground," she stated. Five inspectors were actually tried; two were convicted in 2009 to suspended sentences, but only for perjury and falsification of documents, and not for assaults.
As regards time served, Leonor emphasises: "I had excellent behaviour and only served 14 years."
The Joana Cipriano case remains unresolved regarding the whereabouts of the child, who disappeared over two decades ago.
Source: Correio da Manhã