Germany/Portugal - Christian Brueckner, 27 @ time of 1st crime (2004), charged with sexual assault crimes, Praia de Rocha, Portugal. #4

[Davieson]

There's really nothing high profile about this case, just run of the mill sex crimes.

 

[Mex]

There's really nothing high profile about this case, just run of the mill sex crimes.

Snip
A rape trial in Braunschweig does not normally attract camera teams from Great Britain, France and Portugal, but CB, an internationally notorious offender, is on trial.
...
While the 2019 rape trial against B. went almost unnoticed by the public, journalists were queuing up in front of the courthouse before seven o'clock on Friday. They had to undergo strict security checks, which is why the trial started delayed.
...
29 days of trial are scheduled for the circumstantial trial.

The verdict would therefore be pronounced at the end of June.

When asked about his further strategy, defense attorney FF referred to the next meetings. "It doesn't get any more boring than that."

Schöffin befangen? Prozesstag gegen Christian B. beendet

Wegen fünf Sexualstraftaten steht Christian B. vor Gericht. Der 47-Jährige steht auch in Verdacht, 2007 die Britin Maddie ermordet zu haben. Doch zur Verlesung der Anklage kam es überraschend nicht.

www.abendblatt.de

Snip
The interest and media response to the trial against CB. had been huge last week – media representatives and spectators had crowded in front of the entrance to the district court, the start had been postponed by 40 minutes. On this Friday morning, the rush was somewhat smaller. Nevertheless, a queue formed in the foyer. It started on time: Almost all seats were occupied, including the spectator benches.

Prozess in Braunschweig: Christian B. schweigt, Verteidiger sät Zweifel

Nach dem Eklat um die Schöffin wurde nun die Anklage verlesen. Christian B. redete nicht, dafür sein Anwalt. Was dieser zu sagen hatte.

www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de

 

[frank-cole]

Another difference is different court jurisdiction, therefore different prosecutors.
Perhaps they recognise a dead horse when they see one.

Respectfully- Not relevant to the point. There’s no investigation into CB for Inge’s disappearance yet there’s a funded investigation into CB for Madeleine’s. They don’t run investigations unless they have reason to justify one. - the difference will be evidence.

I don’t think this is a case of a lone antagonist prosecutor on a crusade to spoil a party & bag some airtime before starting a career as a talk show host.

There will be a reason 3 LEA’s all have CB as the sole prime suspect.

 

[Hygge]

If anyone knows, did the main judge in this current trial preside over any other "high profile" cases that were reported in the media?

I didn’t find anything but the Landgericht Braunschweig, the court often has cases of Volkswagen VW because the company is just a few km away, like the Diesel scandal and many others so I guess she was busy there too but no famous crimes so far.

 

[Mex]

I didn’t find anything but the Landgericht Braunschweig, the court often has cases of Volkswagen VW because the company is just a few km away, like the Diesel scandal and many others so I guess she was busy there too but no famous crimes so far.

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".

Christian Brueckner rape victim 'feared he would cut her head off'

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

 

[frank-cole]

I

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".

Christian Brueckner rape victim 'feared he would cut her head off'

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

It’s absolutely horrendous. There are so many similarities with all of these independent accounts. Trouble is, after all these years, it may not be enough to convict. Legally innocent but impossible to argue he’s factually innocent.

Imo there’s a possibility that the world will know that the McCann case is solved but the result ends in an acquittal.

Akin to - “You can’t prove he wasn’t sent that picture & technicality 167 says you didn’t collect that evidence properly”.
Meaning - there’ll be *(almost) no public doubt, but perhaps there’s an opportunity to worm CB out of it.

* “CB & Gerry were tennis buddies hehe”.

 

[Davieson]

I

It’s absolutely horrendous. There are so many similarities with all of these independent accounts. Trouble is, after all these years, it may not be enough to convict. Legally innocent but impossible to argue he’s factually innocent.

Imo there’s a possibility that the world will know that the McCann case is solved but the result ends in an acquittal.

Akin to - “You can’t prove he wasn’t sent that picture & technicality 167 says you didn’t collect that evidence properly”.
Meaning - there’ll be *(almost) no public doubt, but perhaps there’s an opportunity to worm CB out of it.

* “CB & Gerry were tennis buddies hehe”.

I don't see that being acquitted equates to worming out - except in the mind of the biased.

 

[Mex]

I don't see that being acquitted equates to worming out - except in the mind of the biased.

Many would hold hands up to being biased against serial sexual offenders and all their doings. One would not expect the presiding judges in the trial process to number amongst them. Ditto regarding any form of bias influencing the outcome of due process.

Which is why sadly, it is a very serious matter indeed that the judges sitting (in the CB v The Five indictments) have laid themselves open to the accusation of bias

 

[Denis R Tandib]

I don't see that being acquitted equates to worming out - except in the mind of the biased.

Right, he has to be wormed into it in the first place and therein lies the problem.

MM’s case is no nearer being solved now than it was before the 2020 appeal. Perhaps CB is a good candidate to be an abductor, abuser and murderer but is there any hard evidence that he committed any of these crimes against MM?

From what we’ve seen, it doesn’t look like it.

 

[frank-cole]

I don't see that being acquitted equates to worming out - except in the mind of the biased.

Thanks.
Context! Again!!

Defence lawyers find technicalities to worm clients out of convictions. Legally innocent not factually innocent.

There is an element of bias but not in way you probably think there is -

I’m pro-victim not pro-CB. I believe the children, I do not believe the paedophile.

 

[frank-cole]

Many would hold hands up to being biased against serial sexual offenders and all their doings. One would not expect the presiding judges in the trial process to number amongst them. Ditto regarding any form of bias influencing the outcome of due process.

Which is why sadly, it is a very serious matter indeed that the judges sitting (in the CB v The Five indictments) have laid themselves open to the accusation of bias

I think speaking favourably or negatively regarding the prosecution succeeding or failing is born out of an opinion or agenda in the MM case, either way. Rewind 4 years - if you liked an Amaral type theory, you’re highly likely to dislike any prosecutor, any LEA or any investigator involved in investigating CB, especially (but not exclusively) in the MM case. If you dislike the Amaral type theory & believe in the parents’ innocence, you’ll be favourable to those currently working on justice. This is such a polarising case.

 

[Davieson]

Thanks.
Context! Again!!

Defence lawyers find technicalities to worm clients out of convictions. Legally innocent not factually innocent.

There is an element of bias but not in way you probably think there is -

I’m pro-victim not pro-CB. I believe the children, I do not believe the paedophile.

I'm solely pro-judges as they have all the evidence

 

[frank-cole]

I'm solely pro-judges as they have all the evidence

Yet they may not be able to make a judgement based on all the evidence. That usb sure seems significant….

 

[Davieson]

Yet they may not be able to make a judgement based on all the evidence. That usb sure seems significant….

Of course they will. There's either sufficient evidence to convict or there isn't. If the USb content is deemed inadmissible, then it can't legally be considered as evidence.
It's their job to decide which.

 

[mrjitty]

CB won’t be found legally innocent. Where is that idea coming from?

 

[Davieson]

CB won’t be found legally innocent. Where is that idea coming from?

At a guess, from those who can't bear the thought of him being acquitted.

 

[frank-cole]

I

Of course they will. There's either sufficient evidence to convict or there isn't. If the USb content is deemed inadmissible, then it can't legally be considered as evidence.
It's their job to decide which.

It won’t be the content it’ll be whether the court deemed it was collected properly. If it wasn’t significant the defence wouldn’t have been all over it. I’m surprised I need to point that out.

 

[frank-cole]

It

CB won’t be found legally innocent. Where is that idea coming from?

It’s very simple. A not guilty verdict doesn’t mean he didn’t commit the crime. Some like to suggest that it does, for obvious reasons.

 

[Davieson]

I

It won’t be the content it’ll be whether the court deemed it was collected properly. If it wasn’t significant the defence wouldn’t have been all over it. I’m surprised I need to point that out.

Its only significant if the court says so.

 

[Davieson]

It

It’s very simple. A not guilty verdict doesn’t mean he didn’t commit the crime. Some like to suggest that it does, for obvious reasons.

Of course it doesn't.
People can be guilty of crimes even if they never face a court of law, let alone be acquitted.