Has The Tide Turned?

This blog does not purport to be of the “breaking news” variety, but more a periodic journal. However, new developments have surfaced in the past few days that deserve acknowledgment. Paulus Van der Sloot did not prevail in his quest for the monetary damages he proclaimed were caused by his incarceration during the summer of 2005.

Three Dutch judges made the ruling that the incarceration was understandable and acceptable based upon information obtained shortly after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Judge Mezas, Judge De Kerpel-van de Poel, and Judge Mijnssen, all members of the Joint Superior Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, declared that sufficient evidence was gathered prior to the arrest and detention was justified.

The following is an article that appeared in the morning edition of DIARIO, February 15, 2007. The English translation was kindly provided to me by the Managing Director, Jossy M. Mansur:

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New information coming out of the Superior Court of Justice

PAUL VAN DER SLOOT HAD TWO PERSONAL CONTACTS WITH NATALEE THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED

ORANJESTAD (AAN) On the 13th of February 2007, the Superior Court dictated sentence against Paul van der Sloot in the case that he appealed with regards to the damages that his person as well as his family members asked for, seeing that in the Primary Court (Court of First Instance) Paul van der Sloot alone (no one else in his family) got a reward of 40,000 guilders for damages and 1500 guilders to cover the costs of the lawyers, court clerks, etc.

The sentence of the Superior Court fell like a bomb on Paul van der Sloot and his defense attorney because, according to the attorney, the Court made use of information’s that do not agree with the truth.

The Court dictated that Paul van der Sloot fetched Joran and Natalee at the McDonald Palm Beach branch and took the two of them to the Holiday Inn, according to declarations by witnesses and also information’s obtained from a phone tap carried out by the police.

Until recently, this key information was not known in the press and apparently only by the Police and Dept. of Justice.

The whole case of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway gets a different twist now that the information has come out from no less than the Superior Court, and in which mention is made of the declarations of witnesses and a phone tap that show or give an indication that Paul van der Sloot had on two occasions personal contact with Natalee during the night that she disappeared.

Mention is made that, according to one or more official reports of the phone tap and also the declaration of Paul van der Sloot himself, that Paul fetched Joran and Natalee at McDonald and took them to the Holiday Inn.

Based on this information, the judicial authorities and the police had at that time a justified basis to arrest Paul van der Sloot based on different suspicions.

According to the Superior Court, Paul van der Sloot himself is guilty, he made possible or caused (depends how every one interprets the grammar in the sentence of the Court’s) himself to be arrested and that Aruba cannot be held responsible for the damages that he suffered and for which he was demanding damages, which he won in First Instance, but appealed to get more, and now has lost everything.

In the sentence there are various points and aspects that brought a different view on the Natalee Holloway case and that in the coming days will be analyzed, but the most important information is the matter of fetching Natalee and Joran at the McDonald, Palm Beach, and also that Paul had on two occasions personal contacts with Natalee on the night that she disappeared.

The cardinal question now is: what did the police authorities hear on the tapped phone of Paul van der Sloot, and the next question is hotter still: at what time, under what circumstances, and where did Paul van der Sloot as the father of Joran van der Sloot have contacts with Natalee Holloway the night she disappeared?

If the Superior Court says that in the official report mention is made that Paul van der Sloot fetched Joran and Natalee on the aforementioned night at McDonald Palm Beach, that is the first contact, but where did the second contact take place?

On the night of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, Paul van der Sloot met again with Natalee after he left Joran with Natalee at the Holiday Inn? If that is the case, then where and at what time did Natalee disappear that night?

In the declarations of Joran and the Kalpoe brothers there was a heated discussion amongst them, with formal denials as to whether they went with Natalee to the house of Paul van der Sloot on the night of her disappearance
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That’s why it is important to get clarity on the two occasions that Paul van der Sloot had personal contacts with Natalee on the night in question and where and under what circumstances they occurred.

The lawyer for Paul van der Sloot denies that Paul declared that he fetched Joran and Natalee at McDonald Palm Beach, and that he had contacts with Natalee the night she disappeared, but the Superior Court of Justice based its sentence on the information presented by the interim Attorney General of Aruba.

Now, who is lying and who is telling the truth?

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