I'm sure the information must be out there somewhere because as a professional judge she must have all the requisite qualifications to do the job. But she had a baptism of fire with this case.
Firstly there was the scrum of people trying to access the court causing a late start. Then a lay judge was caught out in an on-line indiscretion causing her dismissal and the appointment of another. Followed by encountering a bullish defence who if CB had opted for silence made up for it with one demand after another. Not to mention harsh words being exchanged; all very unsettling and making me think along the lines of inexperience, because she seems to have been a bit too eager to bend the knee in a situation over which on paper she has full sway.
My opinion
While I was looking for information I came across a tabloid narrative which indicates just how little we actually know about what is going on in the Braunschweig court.
I intend just to make a couple of points because not only is there a warning
- *** WARNING: Article contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence ***
it refers to horrors which really are disturbing when hearing precisely what the rapist was capable of doing to innocent women under his control.
There would appear to be quite a bit more knowledge about the circumstances of the two anonymous rapes according to the tabloid report.
A date rape drug? and the teenager naming her rapist using his forename.
Snip
The other two rapes he is accused of against an unknown woman aged between 70 and 80 years old and a girl of 14 were also described in horrific details, with the prosecutor saying (the assailant) 'hit the [older] woman's body and face with at least 20 lashes' using a whip and made the teenager vomit while orally raping her.
Prosecutor UL told the court that (the assailant) had used a rape drug to incapacitate his victims before trapping them in his house.
The other two rapes he is accused of against an unknown woman aged between 70 and 80 years old and a girl of 14 were also described in horrific details.
The prosecutor said: 'He was masked with a stocking mask that only had holes for his eyes and mouth.
'He put swimming goggles on the older lady, who was wearing a nightgown. Since their glasses were painted gray, the victim could no longer see anything.
'He laid the woman on her stomach on her bed and tied her hands behind her back to make it impossible for the victim to resist what was happening.
'He then set up the cameras he had brought with him in two different positions in the bedroom, aimed them at the bed and started recording.
'He now turned the old lady onto her back and pulled her nightgown up to her waist. After sexual intercourse had ended, he removed the condom from his penis and went to the bathroom in the apartment.
'There he flushed the condom down the toilet. He then went back to the victim's bed with a whip and hit the woman's body and face with at least 20 lashes in order to enjoy the pain and fear he wanted in the woman.
'The victim screamed and insulted the accused while the crime was being carried out. After the physical punishment, the accused sat down on the end of the bed, breathing heavily, took off his mask and placed a pillow on the completely frightened woman's face before ending the recording.'
...
'For this purpose, he put her hands around the post behind her back and tied them together. First he hit the naked girl with a whip. The girl addressed the accused by the name "Chris" and made it clear to him that what he was doing was against her express will.
'She begged him to stop and shouted "this is kidnapping, this is rape".
GRAPHIC CONTENT: Convicted rapist Brueckner, 47, is accused of three rapes and two sex assaults said to have been carried out on Portugal's Algarve coast in a period from 2000 to 2017.
www.dailymail.co.uk
www.independent.co.uk
