German prosecutors – thwarted once again – say they will appeal
Christian Brückner, the one and only suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has been acquitted of five offences (three of rape and two of abuse) allegedly committed between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal, for which he was on trial in Germany.
The 47-year-old was acquitted by a court in Braunschweig, northern Germany, which considered that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence to support the charges.
To put this in clearer perspective, two of the rapes had not even managed to identify the victims.
In a sense, this result is very much where things stand regarding Brückner’s position as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance, over 17 years ago.
German prosecutors made an announcement, back in 2020, convinced of Brückner’s guilt, but they have not produced the evidence, in spite of considerable efforts. Thus, no formal charges have been brought. Brückner meantime has always denied any involvement, and there has been talk in the past of him actually having an alibi for the evening that Madeleine was allegedly abducted.
But back to this particular trial – which was certainly seen by the prosecution as another avenue for blackening Bruckner’s name – the convicted rapist was accused of raping Irish woman Hazel Behan in 2004, in Praia da Rocha; raping a teenage girl in her holiday home in Praia da Luz; and raping an elderly woman, also in Praia da Luz, in 2005. (These allegations came from the testimony of a thief who claims he broke into Bruckner’s apartment and stolen a camcorder with videos of the rapes, which he has since lost…)
In addition, prosecutors accused the former ‘drifter’ of exposing himself in front of two children, a 10-year-old German girl on a beach and an 11-year-old Portuguese girl in playground.
The prosecution had asked for a 15-year prison sentence. At one point in the trial it produced expert witnesses to attest to the danger Brückner posed to society if released.
All these arguments will have been countered by Brückner’s defence lawyer Friedrich Füllscher who has, in the past, challenged German prosecutors on all their assertions.
Brückner meantime will remain in prison until September next year, as he is still serving a sentence for rape in another case, while district prosecutor Christian Wolters has said his department will be appealing the verdict (to the Federal Court of Justice), and until then it is not legally binding.
Brückner did not give evidence during the trial, but his lawyer said acquittal was “the only correct outcome of the case” because two of the rape victims had never been identified and witnesses were not credible.
According to the BBC, Brückner’s acquittal has raised questions about German prosecutors’ claims regarding his involvement with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Remember, back in 2020, Hans Christian Wolters went so far as to tell reporters that “Madeleine is dead” and investigators believed Brückner “has done the deed”.
Legally, of course, there is no connection between the two cases. The judge made that clear when she delivered the acquittal this week, saying that the verdict had to be carried out on the basis of evidence for the charges in question, and should not be influenced by other cases or by a public media debate.
“However, some of the witnesses deemed unreliable by the judge were potential witnesses in the McCann case as well”, says the BBC, so this “verdict may have further repercussions”.
