The Italian Catholic website La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (LNBQ) has an exclusive today — a cell phone video they claim captures a conversation between what LNBQ says are “at least 3-4 unidentified members of the Alder Hey Hospital staff” apparently discussing the situation with Alfie Evans.
The video appears to have been recorded secretly, and the audio quality is, unfortunately, somewhat poor. Several of the voices are heavily accented and frequently speak over one another, making an accurate transcription difficult. LNBQ posted their own transcription, but rather than offering you a translation, I’ve done my own. I’ve also uploaded a slightly cleaned-up version of the audio as an MP3 file.
I am under the impression, based on context, that the man who is doing most of the speaking in the video might actually be one of the on-duty police officers or possibly even a security guard at the hospital, but it’s difficult to tell for certain. It’s possible he may be a nurse, doctor, or in some other position on the hospital staff of some importance. He mentions the possibility of getting in trouble for speaking because “I am who I am.” The women seem to know details of Alfie’s particular medical situation — one asks, for example, why he isn’t on a catheter — leading me to believe they may be among the nursing staff. Again, it’s difficult to say.
Nevertheless, the consensus among those speaking seems to be that the hospital may be covering something up, which could explain why they haven’t let Alfie go to Italy for further treatment. The group also seems to signal a growing uneasiness with the way the entire situation being handled, and they discuss several times whether or not they “have the numbers” — to do what, exactly, isn’t clear, but by the end, they’re talking about people being tasered or arrested, which leads me to believe they are thinking about finding a way out for the family.
(At the time of this writing, a new hearing is underway to determine what steps will be taken to maintain Alfie’s life. A representative of the Italian Embassy is present at the hearing.)
Listen to the video here:
Our audio is here:
The transcript follows:
Man 1: (Inaudible) well-being in (expletive) Italy.
Woman 1: He’s still breathing now isn’t he?
Group: (crosstalk)
Man 2: Should have been in Italy a few hours ago…
Man 1: Should have been in Italy last week.
Man 3: Stop. Stop. Stop. (crosstalk)
Woman 1: What I don’t understand, if he’s brain dead why aren’t all of his organs failing? Why isn’t he on a catheter?
Woman 2: Because he wouldn’t be able to go to the toilet.
Man: I’m not supposed to be talking about it, ladies. I’ll get myself into trouble. Or…‘cause…I am who I am. Basically. I personally think that this hospital is covering something up big.
Woman 1: If you want to go inside…
Woman 2: You gonna need to be back here (inaudible)?
Woman 3: They’re coverin’ something up…
Group: (crosstalk)
Man: (expletive)
Man: (Inaudible) gotta go.
Group: (crosstalk)
Man: I know exactly what they’re doing to him, you know what I mean?
Woman 3: What’s happening?
Woman 2: There must be something that we can do. We’ve got the numbers.
Man: I know.
Woman 2: We have got the numbers.
Man: Yup.
Woman 3: (inaudible) back on Tom…
Woman 1: I don’t think it can get any worse, do you?
Group: (Crosstalk)
Woman 3: (Inaudible)
Woman 1: Have you ever seen something like this – successful?
Man: No.
Woman 1: Never.
Man: Even the Charlie Gard one.
Group: (Crosstalk)
Man: I went down to London for that one.
Woman 3: Do you think that (inaudible)
Man: I can’t talk about it, you know what I mean?
Group: Yeah.
Man: Obviously. Because…I’ve got kids to feed myself. So…
Group: Yeah…
Woman 4: We don’t know your name and (lost in crosstalk)
Woman 1: We do understand why everyone is…all the police stand, now they all have a job to do. We all, everyone (crosstalk)
Man: I think the police presence is making it a lot (expletive) worse.
Woman 2: It is.
Woman 3: It is.
Man: It’s intimidating. (inaudible)
Woman 3: I know (inaudible)
Group: (Crosstalk)
Woman 3: (inaudible) if people actually knew that (crosstalk)
Man: (inaudible) 90 police.
Woman 2: 90?!
Man: Yeah.
Woman 2: Oh my God!
Man: At least 90…
Group: (Crosstalk)
Man: You know the old Eaton Road police station? I haven’t told (inaudible)
Woman 2: Have we still got the numbers, then?
Woman 3: We’ve got quite a lot of people here, yeah?
Woman 5: Oh yeah.
Group: (Crosstalk)
Woman 2: Probably all tasered…
Man 1: That’s the last thing Tom wants.
Woman 5: Exactly (inaudible)
Man: The last thing he wants is to get arrested. (Inaudible)
Woman: (inaudible)
Man: That’s the last thing he wants.