Interview met Steve Cohen
This evening I will discus the apparent flip-flopping of Steve Cohen, spokesperson of the Aruban authorities. Apparently, there has been an airing on the Dr. Phil Show in which Steve Cohen expressed his opinion that the three suspects: Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe Brothers, were guilty.
Dr. Phil.com - Shows - Follow Ups
Dr. Phil turns to Steve. "So, you're a paid consultant?" he asks.
"That's correct," Steve replies.
"And, who pays you?" Dr. Phil probes.
"I'm actually paid by the tourism industry, which is the Aruban Tourism Authority, and also a group called AHACA, which is an association of hotel owners on the island."
Steve explains, "Forensic materials continue to be collected. I think we've got our hands on some forensic material now that may actually open up the doors to the final results of this case."
Dr. Phil asks him, "From your opinion, based on what you know, do you believe that these boys are guilty of wrongdoing here?" Steve says that he does. "Do the prosecutors believe they are guilty of wrongdoing?" Steve says that they do. "Do you believe that [the boys] have available, intimate knowledge of what happened to her that night?" Again, Steve confirms that he does.
Dr. Phil.com
Steve's statement, to say the least, has cause considerable alarm. However, when taken in context with his position and past experience with the investigative team in Aruba, it makes logical sense that he would respond in such a manner. If Steve Cohen had said "No," then why would the three suspects be still considered suspects. In a sense. Dr. Phil posed a loaded question. Steve Cohen, as the spokesperson for the Aruban authorities investigating the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, has to respond in the affirmative.
Aruba Truth quickly carried a clarification of Steve Cohen's intended meaning in an earlier response in San Juan, Puerto Rico to reporters.
Aruba Truth » Blog Archive » Aruba stays afloat through Natalee Holloway Investigation
Aruba believes it is most important to get a hold of her mental state and most importantly, Natalee’s physical state at the time of disappearance. “Two of the boys said they had consensual sex with her. Whether consensual or not, depends on her ability to be conscious and make a choice,” said Cohen.
Aruba Truth, A CLARIFICATION OF THE PUERTO RICO STATEMENTS from Special Adviser, Steve Cohen
There are concerns about the statements regarding the investigations view of whether or not any of the suspects had consensual sex with Natalee Holloway. It was not my intention to suggest that they had admitted any such actions on the official record. The statement was made in regard to why interviewing Alabama teens would be important to the case. However, the Office of the Prosecution believes it is important to determine all details of that night including Ms. Holloway’s physical state.
In the clarification, Steve Cohen authenticates that the three suspects have not admitted to having consensual sex with Natalee. From this clarification, we understand clearly that Steve Cohen is merely expressing the party line of the Aruban investigative team, to Dr. Phil MacGraw. He admits his ignorance of the matter in the clarification statement.
Actually, I am getting the impression that Steve merely spouts out what seems appropriate at the time. From the 10-day span concerning re-questioning to the latest consensual sex statement, Steve really does not have a grasp on the case, at least in a legal sense. This causes his epiphanies about benchmarks of which he is uncertain. Given his latest round of faux pas, we can expect that Aruba Truth will carry more clarifications than substantive articles.
In a follow up on prior activities, we have not received any word that anything was discovered in the sand dunes. There has been no report of any new information from the conference in Barbados. The hot lead remains a mystery. Lastly, Jossy Mansur's house arrest status remains unknown.
As for the Bon Dia Newspaper, it carried the Dr. Phil Show statements of Steve Cohen. There were no results from the settlement pleading for Paulus van der Sloot nor the declaratory motion for Dutch Forensic Institute results on the manipulated tapes on behalf of Joran van der Sloot. Another article on Dave Holloway appeared. In the closing pages of the paper, there was article identifying someone known as "Jossy M" with the highlighted words "demented lunatic." I decided it was probably not worth my attempting a translation of that article.
Wanneer domme mensen domme dingen beweren, dan moet je ze niet corrigeren, maar glimlachend gelijk geven.