Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann appeared in Braunschweig court today, alongside his smiling defence lawyer Friedrich Fulscher. He is accused of five offences between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal.
The five charges he faces include: The rape of an unidentified woman aged between 70 and 80 in her holiday home in Portugal at some point between 2000 and 2006, the rape of a girl believed to have been at least 14 years old at his home in Praia da Luz at some point between 2000 and 2006.
They also include the rape of a young woman after entering her apartment in 2004, the sexual abuse of a child on a beach in 2007, and the sexual abuse of a child in a playground in 2017. Earlier this week the court was told that Christian Brueckner befriended a mum in an online ‘paedophile’ chat room and swapped messages about her “cute” daughter, the Mirror reported.
Brueckner, the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, later met the woman and spent time alone with her child, it is claimed. The convicted paedophile allegedly asked for photos of the four-year-old and told her mum she should be a “model”.
He also drunkenly bragged to her about breaking into Algarve holiday apartments while naked and using a pair of tights as a mask, she said. She gave evidence in court in Braunschweig, where Brueckner is on trial accused of carrying out sex attacks on women and children.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she met the German pervert online in 2013. “He wrote to me on a regular dating chat site, but I have since found out it’s where many paedophiles and sick people operate,” she said. “At the beginning I thought it was about me. But when I spoke to him, I mentioned my daughter. She was almost four.”
Asked by the prosecution if she noticed Brueckner was interested in her daughter, she replied: “Not at all, otherwise I wouldn’t have done that. He just said he found her cute and said she could be a model.” She said Brueckner spent time alone with her daughter when they went out on dog walks.
“He wasn’t threatening, otherwise I wouldn’t have allowed it,” the mum told the court. “I never had any cause to not let her go.” She said Brueckner was often drunk and would boast about raids he had carried out while living in Portugal. “He said he went into houses where people were sleeping,” she said. “He had tights over his head and had goggles on top. All this was not really for me, the idea of going past people who were sleeping, wearing goggles. I thought, ‘who does this?’.”
The woman said Brueckner, 47, claimed he had stolen a large amount of cash during one raid carried out with a female accomplice. “It must have been a lot,” she recalled. “I’m not sure if it was €100,000 but it was a lot.” Brueckner is accused of carrying out sex attacks on women and children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
One of the alleged crimes happened weeks before Madeleine vanished from her parents’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007. The trial at Braunschweig regional court is due to last until October. Brueckner was jailed for the rape of a pensioner in Praia da Luz in 2019 and is serving a seven-year prison term. German authorities named him as the prime suspect for Madeleine’s disappearance in 2020. He denies any involvement in the crime.
