Berlin – A German public prosecutor has introduced new expenses in opposition to Christian Brueckner, the person suspected of kidnapping and killing British toddler Madeleine McCann in 2007. The general public prosecutor's workplace in Braunschweig, central Germany, mentioned Tuesday that Brueckner could be placed on trial on three counts of rape and two counts of kid sexual abuse, all unrelated to the still-unsolved McCann case.
"The Braunschweig public prosecutor's workplace immediately introduced expenses in opposition to a 45-year-old German man earlier than the Braunschweig Regional Court docket for a number of sexual offenses he's alleged to have dedicated in Portugal between Dec. 28, 2000, and June 11, 2017," public prosecutor Hans-Christian Wolters introduced. "The accused is identical one that is being investigated on suspicion of homicide in reference to the disappearance of the then 3-year-old British woman Madeleine Beth McCann from an house complicated in Praia da Luz in Portugal on Might 3, 2007."
The prosecution has accused Brueckner of raping three ladies, together with an Irish nationwide recognized as Hazel B. who was 20 in when she was attacked in her house in Portugal's Praia da Rocha in 2004.
In response to investigators, the perpetrator in that assault acted very equally to the person who attacked and raped a 72-year-old lady referred to as Diana M. in her dwelling in close by Praia da Luz in 2005. Brueckner was sentenced in 2019 to seven years in jail for that crime and is presently serving the sentence at a jail in Oldenburg.
Hazel B. grew to become conscious of Brueckner when new experiences surfaced about proof linking him to McCann's disappearance.
"My thoughts was blown once I learn how he had attacked a girl in 2005, each the techniques and the strategies he used, the instruments he had with him, how properly he had deliberate it out," she instructed The Guardian newspaper in 2020. "I puked, to be sincere with you, as studying about it took me proper again to my expertise."
The identities of the opposite two rape victims behind the brand new expenses haven't been revealed.
The prosecution has relied closely on the testimony of witnesses Manfred S. and Helge B., who stole a video digital camera and tapes from Brueckner's home in southern Portugal in 2006. The tapes included photographs of Brueckner molesting two different ladies, based on prosecutors.
"At an unspecified time between Dec. 28, 2000, and April 8, 2006," Brueckner "shocked (...) and raped an unknown roughly 70-80-year-old lady in her bed room at her trip dwelling in Portugal," the prosecution mentioned.
The third sufferer was an "unknown German-speaking woman aged at the least 14 years" whom the suspect "tied bare to a wood pole in the lounge" in the home the place he lived in Praia da Luz, Portugal, beat her with a whip and compelled her to carry out oral intercourse.
The videotapes depicting these acts have since disappeared, based on the prosecutors.
Brueckner can be dealing with two new counts of kid sexual abuse. On April 7, 2007, he allegedly accosted a 10-year-old woman from Germany as she performed on a Portuguese seaside. The prosecution mentioned the German man, carrying solely footwear, grabbed the kid "by the wrist and commenced to carry out masturbation actions" earlier than releasing her.
Ten years later, on June 11, 2017, Brueckner is accused of exposing himself to a lady, 11, and masturbating at a playground in Portugal. The woman ran to her father, and Brueckner was arrested.
The clues that led to the brand new expenses in opposition to Brueckner got here largely from the investigation into the McCann case.
The prosecution stays satisfied that Brueckner kidnapped and killed the British woman, however her physique has by no means been discovered, and there is no indication that a homicide cost is imminent.
"The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues whatever the indictment," Wolters, the prosecutor, mentioned Tuesday, declining to supply any additional data on the case.
Brueckner's trial on the brand new expenses may start as quickly because the spring.