Christian Brueckner: To be or not to be

There are a lot of things that just do not fit if she really was followed over the Footbridge by her Attacker.

Whatever time she left the Party.
However long it took her to fall asleep.

Maybe he went away to change into his Costume and get his Bag?
Then climbed in?

crusader wrote:Behan was talking about the balcony window in my opinion and Clarke showed a small window instead of a balcony.

The embedded gremlins are sabotaging my posting prowess again, I was in the process of replying and the whole lot disappeared before my very eyes.

This time I'll cut it short..

The Praia Rocha complex was reported by Martin Brunt of Sky News back in July 2020 copied over up-page - in fairness he doesn't actually say the photographs show where the crime allegedly took place but the implication is there..



https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t17484p150-christian-brueckner-to-be-or-not-to-be#473993

The Olive Press recently used the same location but clearly a different time of year as the shrubbery is not in bloom, unless the image has been manipulated..



Oh and    here it is again on a YouTube video premiered in July 2022 - who'd have thought it..





It would appear the bridge mentioned separates a Praia da Rocha complex hotel area from the apartment complex - without knowing the topography I can't comment, seems to me to be a bit of a concrete jungle.  Whatever, I don't think it's ever been said what bar Behan visited, nor which end the bridge she entered or left - seriously, it's not even known exactly where she was living.

Sky News report could be an indication but doesn't confirm anything.

Not that I believe this story for one second ....

Hans Wolters gives the timing of the alleged Attack in his list of Charges against Brückner - from his Press Release 11 October 22.

On June 16, 2004 at around 3:00 a.m., the accused in Praia da Rocha in Portugal is said to have gained access to the apartment of a then 20-year-old woman from Ireland via the balcony. The sleeping woman was then awakened by the masked suspect holding a knife and brutally raped. The accused then tied and gagged the woman to a table and raped her again. He then whipped the victim on the back with a whip he had brought with him and finally forcibly performed oral sex with the victim. The accused filmed large parts of the events with a video camera he had brought with him. While the accused later fled over the balcony, the victim managed to free herself and crying to ask for help.

So this is what Wolters has formally Charged Brückner with.
Any DNA Defence possibilities have been Destroyed already.

Which is why they need a ‘new Witness’ to positively ID Brückner?
Very convenient…

Some aerial Shots.    Copyright me - or perhaps Google maps ! ! !


general view, with block identified


Closer view of block showing CAR PARK



CLOSER view showing the yellow concrete blocks in the access road to the car park



Is the access road to a car park the best place to start climbing into someones window or onto the balcony, dressed like a ninja, carrying a HUGE knife and a very heavy video camera with spare tapes and batteries  ? ?   EDITED TO ADD.  AND a whip ! !
Asking for a friend !

crusader wrote:So if it was around 3am, it wasn't someone who followed her home.

But it was someone who knew EXACTLY what he had planned to do, who knew her NAME, and had been in her ROOM before.

Silentscope wrote:

crusader wrote:So if it was around 3am, it wasn't someone who followed her home.

But it was someone who knew EXACTLY what he had planned to do, who knew her NAME, and had been in her ROOM before.

The boyfriend acting out a rehearsed 'fantasy' ?
The boyfriend who had been turned down ?
A friend of the boyfriend ?
A bad fantasy dream . . .?

And before people jump in and say that is Misogynistic, women DO fantasise, as much as men,
and one of the recurring ones they will admit to is being "taken" and 'overpowered' by a strong man
who does not actually hurt or harm them, but who is totally in control.

From there some fantasise about being hurt, and that drifts off into S&M, bondage and so on.

Whatever the argument between the Boyfriend and his Boss was neither of them is recognised by the Victim. The PJ would have checked on their whereabouts as a matter of course, and it seems they stayed at work? DNA was found, but no Matches were made.

Maybe someone else noticed the argument, then later left the Party and broke in?

I think it is the other way around Crusader, all stored Evidence including DNA was destroyed on orders of a Judge on 15 March 2007.

That is now why they need a positive Identification, so Jutta Rabe ‘presents’ one.

Still waiting to fall off my Chair!

from the Regional Court of Braunschweig

Indictment for rape, sex. Abuse received

The Regional Court of Braunschweig confirms the receipt of an indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office Braunschweig with five acts against sexual self-determination against a 45-year-old defendant.

Regarding the content of the charges, reference is made to the press release of the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office dated October 11, 2022.

The indictment comprises more than one hundred pages.

For reasons of presumption of innocence and protection of personality, no further details of the specific charges will be disclosed by the Regional Court.

According to the business allocation plan of the Regional Court, the 2nd Criminal Chamber is responsible for the proceedings as the Juvenile Protection Chamber (file number 2 KLs 213 Js 52790/18 (15/22). In the interlocutory proceedings now commencing, the 2nd Criminal Chamber will first serve the defendant and his defense counsel with the indictment. This will give them the opportunity to comment on the charges brought by the prosecution, to raise objections to the opening of the main proceedings and/or to request the taking of evidence.

In the so-called intermediate proceedings, the chamber examines whether the indictment will be admitted and the main proceedings opened. It is not possible at present to give a time forecast as to the duration of this examination. The court decides to open the main proceedings if, according to the results of the preparatory proceedings, the defendant is sufficiently suspected of having committed criminal acts through his conduct. Sufficient suspicion exists if a subsequent conviction of the accused appears probable with the available admissible evidence. The interlocutory proceedings end with a decision by the chamber on whether or not to open the main proceedings in the form of an order. Only when the court opens the main proceedings will the chamber subsequently set dates for the main hearing and make decisions on the organizational course of the main hearing.

The defendant is currently in criminal custody on the basis of a judgment of the Regional Court of Braunschweig (file number 1 KLs 71/19, sentence to a total term of imprisonment of 7 years).

The Criminal Division will still have to decide on the issue of issuing an arrest warrant against the defendant in these criminal proceedings.

Due to the current workload of the 2nd Criminal Chamber with main trial dates in already pending criminal proceedings with so-called detention cases (in which the defendants are in pre-trial detention and detention review dates are pending promptly), a start of the trial, insofar as the main trial is opened, is not to be expected this year.

Notice:

A press release will be issued as soon as a decision has been reached in the interim proceedings. We kindly ask you to refrain from further inquiries, as in view of the state of the proceedings, no further information on the proceedings will be provided either by telephone or in writing at present.

Thank you for your understanding!

Contact:

Judge at the Regional Court

Maike Block-Cavallaro

Press spokeswoman

District Court Braunschweig

Münzstrasse 17

38100 Brunswick
landgericht-braunschweig.de

Silentscope #193

Would you please post the official link to verify this text.

Still all that remains is regurgitation of press reports - everything but everything that encircles Brueckner is received by way of the press and media. Until such times as official documentation is presented, relative to any aspect of Brueckner's alleged crimes, I will remain sceptical.

Hazel Behan, by way of the press and media, claims when hearing of the rape charge against Brueckner she was convinced it was he who raped and tortured her in 2004. No compelling evidence to confirm Behan's alleged rape was reported, no official documentation to confirm, only the word of Behan and associated press/media outlets.

Earlier press reports indicate Sky News as the epicentre of all things Hazel Bevan, the shock waves wafting across the airwaves and true to form, mutilated as the story traveled from one source to another. This includes the tale of forensic evidence being destroyed .... and wait for it .... only weeks before Madeleleine McCann was reported missing. Hence a link to the case.

Read on and it becomes apparent that the tale was just another excuse to stick knives in the Portuguese authorities and trash their investigation.

I put it to you, Hazel Behan is a stool pigeon. She was never raped, least of all by Christian Brueckner. Her story, if it's to be believed, although brief and slightly inconsistent has been somewhat embellished by the press and media.

Portugal police could reopen case into rape of Irish woman in 2004

This article is more than 3 years old

Possible inquiry into assault on Hazel Behan comes after claims against Madeleine McCann suspect

Kate Connolly, and Mia Alberti in Portimão
Wed 22 Jul 2020 19.43 BST

Portuguese police have begun a process that could lead to the reopening of an investigation into the unsolved rape of an Irish woman as they seek to build a case against a possible suspect in connection with the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

Detectives in Portugal last week collected the archived case file on the vicious assault in 2004 of Hazel Behan, who was working as a holiday rep in Praia da Rocha on the Algarve, according to a source in the public prosecutor’s office.

A judge could later decide if the investigators can officially reopen the case, a ruling that is unlikely to happen until after the summer.

Behan last month asked UK detectives working on Madeleine’s disappearance to review her attack, after learning that a new suspect in the then three-year-old’s abduction had been convicted of a sexual assault with similarities to her own experience.

Behan was alerted to the police appeal for new evidence in connection with Christian Brückner, who was recently named as a main suspect in Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance. She discovered the 43-year-old had recently been convicted of the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.

She told the Guardian in an interview she had been shocked at the similarities between the attack on the American and her own experience.

“My mind was blown when I read how he had attacked a woman in 2005, both the tactics and the methods he used, how well he had planned it out,” she said. “I puked to be honest with you, as reading about it took me right back to my experience.”

Met officers working on Operation Grange, the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, interviewed Behan at length and said they would contact Portuguese police. The move to retrieve the archived files came late last week.

The 110-page case file, which has been seen by the Guardian and is being held at a court in Portimão, includes details of objects collected by police from the scene of the attack. Among these were the scissors used by Behan’s attacker to cut her clothes, one of her fingernails, and a shirt on which blood was found.

The items were tested for DNA, according to a report in the file. A swab was also taken during a medical examination but was destroyed in 2007, according to the file, because it had been kept in “adverse preservation conditions”. The rest of the items were destroyed in 2009. The destruction of forensic evidence in cases where no suspect has been identified is reportedly standard practice in Portugal.

In the file the police concluded the attack on Behan had been an isolated case, the modus operandi of which was not found in any other cases. The police also said in the file that attempts to find the attacker were hampered by the fact the Euro 2004 football tournament was taking place at the time, leading to “thousands of people from several nationalities” being present in Praia da Rocha.

Behan said she was treated insensitively by the Portuguese police, who she believes failed to properly investigate the rape. She said local people tried to dissuade her from talking about her case.

Evidence on the rape and robbery of the American woman the following year in the nearby resort of Praia da Luz was supposed to have been destroyed in 2010, but court officials had overlooked the fact, according to a file held on the 2005 rape, which the Guardian has also seen.

When German authorities requested the file and evidence – eight items, including a piece of rope used to tie the victim – after receiving information from the Met, it was sent to them by the Portuguese authorities in March 2018. The evidence led to Brückner’s conviction for the 2005 rape in December last year.

However, his lawyers are appealing against the conviction at the European court of justice on the grounds it was not the crime for which he was extradited from Portugal three years ago. The judges are expected to deliver their verdict in about two weeks’ time. Brückner is serving a prison sentence for drugs trafficking in an isolation cell in Kiel, Germany. He is due to be released in January.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/22/portugal-police-could-reopen-case-irish-woman-hazel-behan-2004-madeleine-mccann

Then we have the word of Gerard Couzens, a familiar old hand at reporting on the case of Madeleine McCann.

Portuguese prosecutors DESTROYED vital DNA evidence from brutal five-hour sex attack linked to Christian Brueckner just weeks before Madeleine McCann vanished, court papers reveal

Hazel Behan, from Ireland, was raped in apartment in Praia da Rocha in 2004
She says she was tied up and attacked by a masked man who entered her room
But today it emerged the DNA evidence collected from the crime scene was destroyed around two months before Madeleine's disappearance
The chance of making any solid link between the two cases is now more difficult

By Gerard Couzens for MailOnline

Published: 12:04, 20 June 2020 | Updated: 12:30, 20 June 2020

DNA from a rape linked to Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner was destroyed on the orders of Portuguese prosecutors.

Irish rape victim Hazel Behan waived her right to anonymity last week to say she believed a masked man who targeted her in her Algarve apartment could have been the German sex offender.

She went public about the horrific 2004 attack after discovering Bruecker had been convicted late last year of the September 2005 rape of an American in Praia da Luz where Madeleine vanished in May 2007.

Mother-of-two Ms Behan said the Met Police had told her they were taking her case very seriously and would be contacting Portuguese counterparts after taking a statement.

But today it emerged the DNA evidence collected from the crime scene was destroyed around two months before Madeleine's disappearance, meaning the chance of making any solid link between the two cases if the same offender was responsible could now prove impossible.

The extraordinary decision was laid bare in court papers relating to Ms Behan's rape in Praia da Rocha a half-hour drive east of Praia da Luz.

It followed the March 2007 mothballing of the court probe to try to catch the beast who raped the former holiday rep in a sustained five-hour attack after threatening her with a machete.

The decision to shelve the investigation was linked to the fact identifying possible suspects was complicated by the fact the rape occurred during Euro 2004 when more people were in the area and it appeared to be a 'one-off' attack.

The case files state the victim described her rapist as an English speaker who could be 'German, Belgian or Dutch.'

Ms Behan's underwear was among clothes passed on to a lab for expert analysis along with a broken nail.

The documents make it clear DNA was obtained but no match. They do not specify the exact nature of the material recovered.

Confirming the destruction of the DNA evidence, they say: 'On March 15 2007 when the judge decides to archive the investigation, the Public Ministry decide any biological material should be destroyed.

They add: 'As they are in a bad condition it is improbable that if this re-investigation was reopened the material could be subjected to counterproof analysis.'

The astonishing DNA decision emerged just days after the former head of Portugal's National Forensic Medicine Institute said the evidence collected from the McCanns' holiday apartment could still prove valuable in unlocking the 13-year mystery.

Duarte Nuno Vieira, President President of Portugal's National Forensic Medicine Institute when the youngster vanished, said all the samples taken were kept under lock and key at a lab in the northern city of Coimbra and could be used for re-testing with today's modern technology whenever needed.

He told Portuguese broadcaster CMTV: 'The samples are still being kept in optimum conditions and despite the fact 13 years have gone by, it's still possible today to repeat tests.'

Recent unconfirmed Portuguese reports claimed convicted rapist Brueckner had been ruled out as a suspect in the Hazel Behan case but gave no indication why.

Dubliner Ms Behan, who has now returned to Ireland, also told the Guardian in an interview last week she recalled a distinctive mark on the top of Bruecker's right thigh which could have been a birthmark or a tattoo.

The German is said to have birthmarks on his upper right thigh.

Telling how she was woken at 1am by the sound of someone calling her name who then removed her clothes with scissors and gagged her with cloth, she said: 'My mind was blown when I read how he had attacked a woman in 2005, both the tactics and the methods he used, the tools he had with him, how well he had planned it out.

'I puked, to be honest with you, as reading about it took me right back to my experience.'

The new gaffe by Portuguese authorities comes on the back of revelations yesterday that Brueckner admitted to an Algarve judge after he was caught for stealing diesel in April 2006 that he had a teenage sex conviction.

The 43-year-old German admitted his sordid past in his initial court quiz following his detention, court papers from the time show.

The revelation put Portuguese police under the spotlight over their initial failure to link Brueckner to the Maddie inquiry.

The information that showed he was a sex offender and not just a petty thief was a matter of public record in Portugal.

The German molested a six-year-old girl in a playground in his home town of Wurzburg, Bavaria, in 1994 when he was just 17.

Brueckner left his homeland for the Algarve after serving part of a two-year youth sentence for the crime.

Earlier this month Portuguese police chief Carlos Farinha tried to pass the blame for Brueckner slipping through the net 13 years ago by revealing his name was among hundreds passed on to Scotland Yard Grange detectives investigating Maddie's disappearance in 2011.

He insisted Scotland Yard detectives had never asked the PJ to take a closer look at him.

Brueckner only came back on the police radar in 2017, after confessing to a bar room pal in Germany on the 10th anniversary of Maddie's disappearance that he knew what had happened to her.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8442487/Portuguese-prosecutors-DESTROYED-vital-DNA-evidence.html

The 43-year-old German admitted his sordid past in his initial court quiz following his detention, court papers from the time show.

Court quiz ?

But today it emerged the DNA evidence collected from the crime scene was destroyed around two months before Madeleine's disappearance, meaning the chance of making any solid link between the two cases if the same offender was responsible could now prove impossible.

Why would officialdom want to make a link between the disappearance of a three year old child and the alleged rape of a 20 year old holiday rep?

If looking for evidence to link Brueckner with Madeleine McCann's disappearance then why not the forensic reports for the rape of the pensioner - or has that been destroyed also?



DNA of all forensically examined case victims, witnesses suspects and convicted felons will be on record, even if the samples harvested from the crime scene have been destroyed.

Verdi wrote:Silentscope #193

Would you please post the official link to verify this text.

Artikel-Informationen
erstellt am:/ posted on.
12.10.2022
Ansprechpartner/in:/ Contact.
Richterin am Landgericht Maike Block-Cavallaro
Landgericht Braunschweig
Pressesprecherin Block-Cavallaro
Münzstraße 17
38100 Braunschweig
Tel: 0531-488-2374
Fax: 0531-488-2550

Source:
http://landgericht-braunschweig.de/

Navigate to all Press releases of Oktober 2020.
Search Case Number (Aktenzeichen 2 KLs 213 Js 52790/18 (15/22).

E-Mail: lgbs-pressestelle@justiz.niedersachsen.de

At the risk of repeating everything Posted above, there are the following slight differences in an Irish report.

1. She said: I had gone to bed around 1am and was awoken by someone calling my name. 01:00

2. There was a distinctive mark on the top of his right thigh, which was either a pull in the tights, a tattoo or a birthmark, she added. German media have described Brueckner, now 43, as having birthmarks on his upper right thigh. No marks found

3. She was then taken to a hospital for a physical examination, but she doesn't know if any forensic evidence was collected.
Ms Behan believes police did not carry out a thorough investigation or search because there was no attempt to examine her wounds for evidence, and one of her fingernails was discovered by her mum in her room several days later.
She had been told to stay quiet about the attack so it wouldn't bring bad publicity to the resort.
She suspects she was being stalked and the suspect had been in her room in the weeks before the rape because money was missing and belongings had been moved. Fingernail but no Scissors, and no half a Palm print on a Knife

4. When she gave a statement to Met Police she was told they were taking her case seriously and they would contact Portuguese police. She said the Met told her that other people had contacted them independently about her attack. Other people?

Source: Chris Kitching 16:59, 9 JUN 2020
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-woman-tied-up-raped-18390796

According to a new TV documentary on German channel Sat.1, he had then picked up one of her kitchen knives to threaten her not to scream. By amazing fortune, the programme will reveal, while he had attempted to clean up the scene he left a partial fingerprint on the knife.

Source:
https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2021/12/24/exclusive-explosive-fingerprint-clue-as-madeleine-mccann-suspect-faces-three-new-charges/

silentscope, that is the old one from last year, there is  no new one in the email i got yesterday.

Silentscope wrote:

Verdi wrote:Silentscope #193

Would you please post the official link to verify this text.

Artikel-Informationen
erstellt am:/ posted on.
12.10.2022
Ansprechpartner/in:/ Contact.
Richterin am Landgericht Maike Block-Cavallaro
Landgericht Braunschweig
Pressesprecherin Block-Cavallaro
Münzstraße 17
38100 Braunschweig
Tel: 0531-488-2374
Fax: 0531-488-2550

Source:
http://landgericht-braunschweig.de/

Navigate to all Press releases of Oktober 2020.
Search Case Number  (Aktenzeichen 2 KLs 213 Js 52790/18 (15/22).

E-Mail: lgbs-pressestelle@justiz.niedersachsen.de

Yes, I'm quite capable of locating the official landgericht-braunschweig website but as I asked, would you please post the link to verify the text you originally posted up-page.

CaKeLoveR wrote:According to the above from last year, he held a knife to her, and told her not to scream. According to a friend of his - I can't remember which one - CB told him, "She didn't scream", and this remark is supposed to  refer to Madeleine. I can't help thinking that this last 'testimony' was fed to the friend, to create a connection.   Possibly far-fetched, though?

 Of the day!  My thoughts exactly.

It doesn't even require any special effort, just remember or look back on all the press reports about Brueckner since his name first hit the headlines.  There is not a single plausible report worthy of attention, they all contain flimsy references to this and that and not a lot of the other.

Everything correlates from one report to the next, they all pull on alleged quotes, statements, incidents, locations, people, snot, screaming, he said she said - they can't even agree on the alleged criminal record.

Net result .... the rape or not of Hazel Behan and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have no connection what or whosoever with the life and times of Christian Brueckner.



Disclaimer:  Please acknowledge all names in this story line are fictitious responsibly.

onehand wrote:silentscope, that is the old one from last year, there is  no new one in the email i got yesterday.

There will be no further updates until after the ‘Preliminary Hearing’ is over. I do not know what you got as Email.
Can you share?

@Verdi a different but direct Link to the same Page:
https://landgericht-braunschweig.niedersachsen.de/aktuelles/anklageschrift-wg-vergewaltigung-sex-missbrauchs-eingegangen-216160.html

Thank you @Silentscope

A slightly more coherent translation, without the superfluous information..

Indictment due to Rape, sexual abuse

Created on 12th October 2022

The Braunschweig Regional Court confirms receipt of an indictment from the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office with five acts against sexual self-determination against a 45-year-old accused.

With regard to the content of the accusations, reference is made to the press release from the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office dated October 11, 2022.

The indictment runs more than a hundred pages.

For reasons of the presumption of innocence and the protection of personality, the regional court will not disclose any further details about the specific allegations.

According to the district court's business distribution plan, the 2nd Criminal Chamber is responsible for the proceedings as the youth protection chamber (file number 2 KLs 213 Js 52790/18 (15/22). In the interim proceedings that are now beginning, the 2nd Criminal Chamber will first serve the accused and his defense attorney with the indictment This provides the opportunity to comment on the allegations made by the public prosecutor, to raise objections to the opening of the main proceedings and/or to request evidence.

In the so-called interim proceedings, the chamber examines whether the indictment is admitted and the main proceedings are opened. It is currently not possible to make a forecast regarding the duration of this examination. The court decides to open the main proceedings if, based on the results of the preparatory proceedings, the accused is sufficiently suspected of having committed criminal offenses through his behavior. There is sufficient suspicion of a crime if a later conviction of the accused appears likely based on the admissible evidence available. The interim proceedings end with a decision by the chamber on the opening or non-opening of the main proceedings in the form of a resolution. Only when the court opens the main proceedings

The accused is currently in prison due to a ruling by the Braunschweig Regional Court (file number 1 KLs 71/19, sentence of a total prison sentence of 7 years).

The criminal chamber will still have to decide on the question of issuing an arrest warrant against the accused in this criminal case.

Due to the current busyness of the 2nd Criminal Chamber with main hearing dates in already pending criminal proceedings with so-called detention cases (in which the accused are in custody and detention review dates are due soon), a trial is not expected to begin this year if the main proceedings are opened.

A notice:

As soon as a decision in the interim proceedings has been made, a press release will be issued about it. We ask that you refrain from making any further inquiries as, given the status of the proceedings, no further information about the proceedings is currently being provided by telephone or in writing.

Thank you for your understanding!

you can get an abo to a lot of german justice portals, i cannot remember if i had to use my press card for this one, or not, but you can try it for your self, some ask for one, some do not. they are not for sharing on fora, but you can share the reports, you gets the links to. you just get a weekly email with the cases that will have a day in court. 

also with the case numbers you can check in the portal what the full route has been. 

but your link and report is one and the same i shared last year and i even think you did already by yourself. 
nothing new in it, it is all about the first try out of der hans. 
there is even one that followed on this one, in that one they made their decision known, that it was okay to charge and arrest cb for the 5 cases. 

that is where the fat print notice is about. all stuff from much earlier, this report is and was published at the ends of 2022, after der hans had his press release about it out. 

it is already 2023. and after this report of the court, they made another that they accepted the case, and there is also one that the defense team made a complaint about competence of the court, and there is even a another one that handled that and that told the braunschweig court was supposed to be competent to handle the 5 cases. 

there will be to be expected a fresh one when a date is set for the preliminary hearing of the case, and to be expected, the defense will again be protesting against this court as the competent one, and i do expect some more before any case ever will make it into the rest of a court case, about the 5 cases itself. or not when the defense wins. 

as you look to have the right online address, you can try to get your own copy of the releases. it is not of much interest for the forum, it is all in german, and usually even very boring stuff. they handle other cases too.

A few months out of date - May or May not be of interest to the ardent Brueckner devotee.  It was very kindly sent to me, I'm not selfish so will share with you..

panorama
Investigators in trouble

Prosecutor: Charges in the Maddie case “cannot be foreseen”

By Sarah Platz
May 28, 2023, 11:09 a.m

The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office is absolutely certain that they have found the person responsible for the disappearance of little Madeleine McCann. For three years now she has been pleading that Christian B. was the perpetrator - but without proving his guilt.

The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office really took a hard line. “We are 100 percent sure that Christian B. is the murderer we are looking for,” said Hans Christian Wolters from the authority at the end of 2021. At the time, it was the first time that investigators spoke of murder in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. When Wolters and his colleagues made their suspicions against Christian B. public for the first time in June 2020, there seemed to be a breakthrough in the case that had previously seemed hopeless.



The 46-year-old B., who is currently in custody for another case, is said to be responsible for the crime against Maddie. He is said to have kidnapped the girl from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 and then killed her. The investigators from Braunschweig have been pleading that B. was the perpetrator for three years now, and they are sticking to their suspicions even when asked by ntv.de. However, they have not yet proven the suspect's guilt. As far as is publicly known, there is hardly any new evidence, let alone evidence against the German. Maddie's body was not found either. Where an end to the tormenting uncertainty, especially for the little girl's family, seemed within reach in the summer of 2020, it has become more distant again in the past few months.

The public prosecutor's office could not provide any further information due to ongoing investigations. Wolters emphasizes this again and again, most recently during the major search operation at the Arade reservoir in Portugal. In interviews with British, Portuguese and German media, the public prosecutor always speaks only of "new facts" and "new evidence", other statements even sound cryptic: The evidence only allows the conclusion that Christian B. was the perpetrator, said Wolters Ende 2021 the British “Mirror”.

Because the suspect is already in prison for other crimes, investigators would take their time to collect as much evidence as possible. “We want to charge him with the best possible evidence,” explained the lawyer. The prosecutor's statements almost seem like a promise: Even if it takes a while, Christian B. will end up in the dock in the case of the missing Maddie.
Weak chain of evidence

The suspect's defense attorneys doubt that. “I generally don’t assume there will be any charges,” explains Friedrich Fülscher to ntv.de. For this to happen, the public prosecutor's office would have to be able to establish sufficient suspicion against B. in the Maddie case. The court decides whether to open the main proceedings. The green light is only given if the investigative authority's chain of evidence is so strong that a conviction appears at least likely. According to Fülscher, this is “not the case” given the evidence published so far.



B. stayed regularly in the Algarve from 1995 to 2007, i.e. at the time of Maddie's disappearance. He repeatedly broke into holiday resorts and hotels there. The man also has a criminal record - for rape, child abuse and possession of child pornography. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, his cell phone was logged into a cell phone near the McCanns' holiday resort at the time of the crime. He also has no alibi for the evening, as Wolters emphasized several times. All of this undoubtedly makes him suspicious. However, the clues do not establish a specific connection to Maddie.

Contrary to the witness statements. Friends of the suspect claim that he confessed to them about the crime against the little girl. Others claim to have observed suspicious events. Most likely, these people would also incriminate B. before the judge. However, the statements as evidence have a catch: They are the weakest evidence in court - especially if the crime occurred 16 years ago. Memories fade, what was actually experienced blurs into what was heard later, and descriptions are often hardly precise anymore.
“Indication of poverty for the public prosecutor’s office”

Criminal defense lawyer Johann Schwenn, who represents B. together with Fülscher, even speaks in a “Zeit” podcast of a “testimony of poverty for the public prosecutor’s office.” It would give the impression that an indictment in Maddie's case was imminent. At the same time, “she is afraid to allow the alleged suspicions to be discussed during the investigation.”



Because the investigators are not just keeping a low profile from the public. B.'s defense attorneys also receive no information whatsoever, such as the status of the investigation or the evidence collected against their client. "The public prosecutor's office is still refusing to inspect the files," explains Fülscher. In his opinion, this is illegal - "but unfortunately the Code of Criminal Procedure does not provide for the possibility of taking action against this in the preliminary investigation." In fact, only after the investigation has been completed does the defense attorney have a comprehensive right to inspect the files. Before that, the public prosecutor's office can keep the files secret by citing the protection of its investigations.

This is exactly the argument the Braunschweig authorities are using in Maddie's case, as they explained to ntv.de. For the defense attorney Schwenn, this is difficult to understand in this particular case, especially because of the high media presence. There is “a certain disproportion,” he told “Zeit”. Namely, “between the withholding of the files on the one hand and the public prosecutor’s aggressive media policy on the other.”
Investigators are sticking to the Maddie case

It can hardly be denied that the public pressure on the authorities in the Maddie case is immense. Journalists from all over the world are following the investigations meticulously. Every development - no matter how small - creates a kind of collective hold for breath: Is the end of one of the biggest criminal cases of recent years perhaps imminent? The height of the fall in the Maddie case is therefore huge. Not least because of this, the investigative authority, which is legally obliged to be objective, zeroed in on his client, Schwenn makes clear in the podcast. One could assume, said the defense attorney, "that the Maddie case could develop into the prosecution's Hitler diaries."

Of course, a tense relationship between the prosecution and the defense is not unusual. It is also one of the tasks of a criminal defense attorney to sow doubts about the investigation. Nevertheless, the impression that the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office is sticking to the case and its investigation into B. despite all odds cannot be dismissed. Only recently did the Braunschweig Regional Court decide that the investigative authority was not responsible for B.

The suspect had apparently most recently lived in Saxony-Anhalt and not in Lower Saxony - the public prosecutor's office in Magdeburg would therefore be responsible. However, the people of Braunschweig do not want to accept that. They lodged an appeal against the decision and announced that they would continue to investigate until the Higher Regional Court decided again on jurisdiction.
Turnaround through reservoir investigations?

There may be a good reason why the Braunschweigers continue to investigate despite uncertain competence. Because the investigators are slowly but steadily running out of time. B. will be released from prison in two years. If the investigators' evidence in the Maddie case does not become more solid by then, B. would initially be a free man.

Both the German and Portuguese authorities therefore placed great hope in the recent investigations around the Arade reservoir in the south of Portugal. The trigger was the statement of a "very credible witness" that B. was said to have often been at the lake near the small town of Silves, the newspaper "Expresso" reported. It is said that the investigators were primarily interested in fiber and DNA traces during their search.

They would be an important link in the investigators' chain of evidence, as they are considered the safest evidence in court. Genetic material from B., for example on scraps of Maddie's pajamas, would undoubtedly connect the German with the little girl.

The investigators have now dismantled their tents at the Arade reservoir - the search operation was ended after three days. The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office wants to inform about the results next week. However, it is unlikely that these will lead to a breakthrough and make the chain of evidence against B. strong enough for an indictment. Prosecutor Wolters has already made it clear to ntv.de: “It is not foreseeable that the investigation will be concluded.”

https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Staatsanwalt-Anklage-im-Fall-Maddie-ist-nicht-absehbar-article24148422.html