Germany/Portugal - Christian Brueckner, 27 @ time of 1st crime (2004), charged with sexual assault crimes, Praia de Rocha, Portugal. #5

[frank-cole]

Paywall BZ article says it's the teenager.

Christian B: Staatsanwältin greift im Plädoyer massiv Richter an

Prozesstag 36 im Landgericht Braunschweig: Die Anklägerin Ute Lindemann will den Maddie-Verdächtigen in Haft plus Sicherungsverwahrung sehen. Für den Fall eines Freispruchs kündigt sie bereits jetzt Revision zum BGH an.

www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de

It’s got to some good insights.

* Confirming appeal will happen
* Case of the 14 y/o being acquitted
* Helge in witness protection
* Complaints about reporting
* Challenging judges to look at evidence as a whole
* Turning to the gallery - addressing the public
* More things he wrote

 

[johnlair]

I’m my view. The things he wrote & the things that happened to Hazel are too similar to be another coincidence. Knowing that the BKA have that evidence makes it more obvious imo.

CB may have a dirty jacket, a poorly leg, a cold shower & bad cheese sandwich but he isn’t a haggard target of a witch hunt. He’s an extremely dangerous man, his criminal history & now his writings reflect this. The psychiatrist also noted some of CB’s unsettling behaviour whilst in custody.

I agree entirely...However it's been up to the Prosecution to do their Job an that job be enough to convince the courts... They have had a severely tough job to do tho being outnumbered.. personally I don't think the witnesses did any good Christians former buddy's but then again reading he was grilled for five hours nonstop ... Seems a bit much.

 

[Mex]

You can keep trying to discredit every witness & coincidence in isolation. But I don’t see it that way. Multiple people all saying similar things - including victims.

Convicted perjurers are hard to trust. Corroboration is key. My point is that what they saw is very similar to what 2 rape victims said & what CB wrote about in his diary.

In my view, it’s impossible for these to be a series of coincidences, sneaky witnesses & incorrect victims. The accounts are eye catching - too similar not to be linked. IMO

The witnesses reported seeing CB's rape tapes and were ably to describe the content in detail. Their veracity is backed up by police files, statements from the survivor and also by forensic evidence.

Their description was corroborated by the description of the 2005 rape recorded in police files.
It was also corroborated by the testimony of the rape survivor; the clincher was the perpetrator's body hair collected from DM's bed in 2005.

Snip
Evidence on the rape and robbery of the American woman the following year in the nearby resort of Praia da Luz was supposed to have been destroyed in 2010, but court officials had overlooked the fact, according to a file held on the 2005 rape, which the Guardian has also seen.

When German authorities requested the file and evidence – eight items, including a piece of rope used to tie the victim – after receiving information from the Met, it was sent to them by the Portuguese authorities in March 2018. The evidence led to CB's conviction for the 2005 rape in December last year.

Portugal police could reopen case into rape of Irish woman in 2004

Possible inquiry into assault on Hazel Behan comes after claims against Madeleine McCann suspect

www.theguardian.com

HB was also bound by her assailant. It is possible had the evidence not been destroyed in her case the rope could have matched that from the rape carried out the following year. We'll never know about that one, but there are many other parallels making for good circumstantial evidence.
My opinion

 

[frank-cole]

I agree entirely...However it's been up to the Prosecution to do their Job an that job be enough to convince the courts... They have had a severely tough job to do tho being outnumbered.. personally I don't think the witnesses did any good Christians former buddy's but then again reading he was grilled for five hours nonstop ... Seems a bit much.

I agree. I think the evidence is compelling & his writings, the victim accounts & the witnesses along his criminal history make it very obvious. The challenge is making that enough to convince a judge to convict for what were failed cold cases & to navigate through endless technicalities.

The defence have not once tried to argue the evidence of CB’s writings - what they’ve done is attacked how evidence was obtained in order to argue its inadmissibility. That speaks volumes imo.

In regards to the MM case - I think it’s possible that the prosecution may list their concrete evidence in their summary post charging. I think that will be enough to, a at a minimum, confirm to casual skeptics that the McCann’s are innocent. As we know - that won’t be enough for all. But on whole it will clear things up.

I think the evidence will be photographic or video. Found amongst CB’s belongings but imagines without him in frame.

 

[Mex]

I agree entirely...However it's been up to the Prosecution to do their Job an that job be enough to convince the courts... They have had a severely tough job to do tho being outnumbered.. personally I don't think the witnesses did any good Christians former buddy's but then again reading he was grilled for five hours nonstop ... Seems a bit much.

The job the prosecution are attempting to perform has been made doubly difficult by the attitude of the presiding judges.

The contact between judge and prosecution which has been fraught from the beginning and throughout was openly featured with the inflammatory decision made by the judges when they acceded to the defence request to drop charges against CB putting the tin hat on it.

It is noted that the judge had occasion to criticise the Portuguese police although the specifics have not been made quite clear. But considering the international nature of this case and the interest it has generated, perhaps she should have borne in mind that her court is the focus of what is likely to be a first in experiencing German justice in action.

It will probably be widely considered to be quite extraordinary that the judges drew the rug out from under the prosecution’s feet by showing a particular mindset before all the evidence had been heard and whose animosity towards the prosecution is so palpable that the prosecution have had to prepare for appeal before the trial is ended.
That just shouldn’t have been necessary.
My opinion

 

[Mex]

I agree. I think the evidence is compelling & his writings, the victim accounts & the witnesses along his criminal history make it very obvious. The challenge is making that enough to convince a judge to convict for what were failed cold cases & to navigate through endless technicalities.

The defence have not once tried to argue the evidence of CB’s writings - what they’ve done is attacked how evidence was obtained in order to argue its inadmissibility. That speaks volumes imo.

In regards to the MM case - I think it’s possible that the prosecution may list their concrete evidence in their summary post charging. I think that will be enough to, a at a minimum, confirm to casual skeptics that the McCann’s are innocent. As we know - that won’t be enough for all. But on whole it will clear things up.

I think the evidence will be photographic or video. Found amongst CB’s belongings but imagines without him in frame.

I don't think it was ever envisaged how long it was going to take to get the present phase off the ground.

Four years of obstruction before other cases can be addressed, starting with MM's perhaps.
But there are also many cases throughout Europe where local police have expressed interest that CB may have been involved. Who knows if in the interim enough evidence might be available to bring them forward now.

My pet suspicion is with the assaults throughout the Algarve when entry was made to holiday homes and children were assaulted in their beds. Nobody was ever caught for those.

Snip
MM suspect CB would break into holiday apartments naked, a former pal has told his sex crimes trial.

MT, a former partner in crime of CB, said he would use the bizarre modus operandi so as not to leave evidence and catch his clothes on surfaces.

MT said: 'He scaled the walls. Once he told me he broke in and three teenage girls were sleeping in the living room. He was naked. One of them woke up when a phone rang and screamed.
'The girl's father heard the scream and came, so Christian had to run and jump off a balcony. He burgled naked quite a few times because he did not want to leave a trace.'

Christian Brueckner's ex 'partner in crime' speaks at sex trial

Michael Tatschl, a former partner in crime of Brueckner, said he would use the bizarre modus operandi so as not to leave evidence and catch his clothes on surfaces.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[UK Girl]

I agree entirely...However it's been up to the Prosecution to do their Job an that job be enough to convince the courts... They have had a severely tough job to do tho being outnumbered.. personally I don't think the witnesses did any good Christians former buddy's but then again reading he was grilled for five hours nonstop ... Seems a bit much.

Some witnesses can be questioned for days here but maybe had the witness not tried to get out of answering or giving contrasting answers to his original statement or in fact being caught flat out lieing maybe the questioning would not have lasted so long.

 

[Mex]

Some witnesses can be questioned for days here but maybe had the witness not tried to get out of answering or giving contrasting answers to his original statement or in fact being caught flat out lieing maybe the questioning would not have lasted so long.

If we are referring to the same witness, he was obviously a very vulnerable man.
The defence exploited that vulnerability and the judge allowed that to happen.

At one point HB was reduced to tears under cross examination and had to request recovery time.

Other witnesses were also left distressed by the defence. Desperately outmoded techniques to use on witnesses in sex case trials. One would have been amazed that it had not been reined in, had the judge not been a participant. Witness her calling CB forward and her deep gaze into his eyes!

This court seems to have been conducted like an Old West shooting gallery with six-guns shooting off at anything which moved; probably with little regard to the sensibilities or the collateral damage being done to young and distressed witnesses who told it as it was. Despite the suggestion from the defence that their parents were embroidering events in the background.
My opinion

 

[frank-cole]

If we are referring to the same witness, he was obviously a very vulnerable man.
The defence exploited that vulnerability and the judge allowed that to happen.

At one point HB was reduced to tears under cross examination and had to request recovery time.

Other witnesses were also left distressed by the defence. Desperately outmoded techniques to use on witnesses in sex case trials. One would have been amazed that it had not been reined in, had the judge not been a participant. Witness her calling CB forward and her deep gaze into his eyes!

This court seems to have been conducted like an Old West shooting gallery with six-guns shooting off at anything which moved; probably with little regard to the sensibilities or the collateral damage being done to young and distressed witnesses who told it as it was. Despite the suggestion from the defence that their parents were embroidering events in the background.
My opinion

Yes. I agree ref the vulnerable witness. This scrutiny is often unfounded & raw. A passing glance at these conversations & one would get the impression witnesses were the ones trial for multiple counts of sexual assault. The anger seems misplaced, the evil is the accused. The hostility towards prosecutors, witnesses & sometimes even victims has been quite a shock to me. The accused should never be the elephant in the room.

 

[RichardKimble]

I doubt it was non stop questioning the there'd have been a break for lunch.

 

[UK Girl]

I doubt it was non stop questioning the there'd have been a break for lunch.

yeah exactly.

 

[Mex]

Yes. I agree ref the vulnerable witness. This scrutiny is often unfounded & raw. A passing glance at these conversations & one would get the impression witnesses were the ones trial for multiple counts of sexual assault. The anger seems misplaced, the evil is the accused. The hostility towards prosecutors, witnesses & sometimes even victims has been quite a shock to me. The accused should never be the elephant in the room.

What has happened throughout this trial is unconscionable particularly from the point of view of witnesses who are obliged to answer to the court, so if aggressively questioned they just have to cope with it as best they can.

Very few with the background and personal situation of the witness have the intellectual tools to cope with the aggressive barraging of a top notch advocate who is pulling out all the stops and not being restrained.

One wonders how the suspect who has opted not to speak would have coped in a situation where he didn’t have choice like the witness and wonder how he would have controlled his known volatility if had been goaded by an interrogator as the witness was.

Again it is a situation which should not have been allowed to happen let alone tolerated, but disgracefully it was.
My opinion

 

[Mex]

Some witnesses can be questioned for days here but maybe had the witness not tried to get out of answering or giving contrasting answers to his original statement or in fact being caught flat out lieing maybe the questioning would not have lasted so long.

One doubts the complaint refers to the length of the time taken for the witnesses to be questioned per se; but rather the manner in which the questioning was conducted.

 

[frank-cole]

What has happened throughout this trial is unconscionable particularly from the point of view of witnesses who are obliged to answer to the court, so if aggressively questioned they just have to cope with it as best they can.

Very few with the background and personal situation of the witness have the intellectual tools to cope with the aggressive barraging of a top notch advocate who is pulling out all the stops and not being restrained.

One wonders how the suspect who has opted not to speak would have coped in a situation where he didn’t have choice like the witness and wonder how he would have controlled his known volatility if had been goaded by an interrogator as the witness was.

Again it is a situation which should not have been allowed to happen let alone tolerated, but disgracefully it was.
My opinion

I agree. My point was about how shocked I’ve been by the manner of some of the conversations towards everybody & anybody involved in investigating the cases, witnesses & in some cases the victims

I think it’s possible that the MM answer will come pre-trial when they summaries their
evidence. If so - so the whole - the wider public will all finally be on the same page. Unlikely this thread will ever be on the same page, but in general I expect people will understand

 

[Mex]

I agree. My point was about how shocked I’ve been by the manner of some of the conversations towards everybody & anybody involved in investigating the cases, witnesses & in some cases the victims

I think it’s possible that the MM answer will come pre-trial when they summaries their
evidence. If so - so the whole - the wider public will all finally be on the same page. Unlikely this thread will ever be on the same page, but in general I expect people will understand

Having read up a little about the procedures to be expected in a German trial the reality witnessed is astounding.

One remains confused as to whether this is an aberration or the norm. But it is indeed shocking.

Of issue is the way in which this trial was allowed to be taken over by the MM case so I’m not sure where that is going to go. An indictment and a trial in MM’s case was always going to be a performance; who could have expected it would happen so prematurely and in an entirely different trial.

 

[Anxala]

I agree entirely...However it's been up to the Prosecution to do their Job an that job be enough to convince the courts... They have had a severely tough job to do tho being outnumbered.. personally I don't think the witnesses did any good Christians former buddy's but then again reading he was grilled for five hours nonstop ... Seems a bit much.

What do you mean by outnumbered? The prosecution is comprised of a team, same as the defence.

 

[frank-cole]

Having read up a little about the procedures to be expected in a German trial the reality witnessed is astounding.

One remains confused as to whether this is an aberration or the norm. But it is indeed shocking.

Of issue is the way in which this trial was allowed to be taken over by the MM case so I’m not sure where that is going to go. An indictment and a trial in MM’s case was always going to be a performance; who could have expected it would happen so prematurely and in an entirely different trial.

I have no doubt about his guilt. The odds would be in the billions to one range for everything to be an isolated series of convenient coincidences. The defence putting up zero argument to CB’s writings speaks volumes imo.

I think the prosecution & defence both have a point. Yes it is very unlikely to be anybody else but yes this does lack concrete evidence.

I think the prosecution’s statements about the chamber are well founded & I won’t be surprised if they appeal this to a higher court.

I tend to refrain from silly personal gripes about lawyers or witnesses. But to call things out - I think HCW has spoken too much & I think some of FF’s conduct has been egotistical & insensitive.

 

[Mex]

There has to be some measure of restraint from highly trained professionals interviewing lay people. Which Chief public prosecutor U L highlights as being missing from the Braunschweig court.
She sums up who she is and her aims in this trial in comparison with defence aspirations when she said

• 'The defence lawyer said in an interview it is all about winning for him.​
• My job is to make sure to find out what happens and then to hold those involved to account.'​

That says it all.

Neither does she hold back regarding the abominable treatment of one witness probably safe in the knowledge that irrespective of what she had to say she was convinced the chamber had already made up its mind and does not share her passion to find the facts and thus deliver justice. I sincerely hope she has got that one wrong, but we shall see.
The chief prosecutor did not disdain to express how shocked she had been by the judge's interrogation of a police witness by putting on record that, 'you sometimes had the impression that the police officer was sitting on the bench for the accused'.

Christian Brueckner labelled a 'sadistic psychopath' in court

Convicted paedophile and rapist Christian Brueckner , 47, is the man who German investigators believe abducted Madeleine McCann in 2007

www.dailymail.co.uk

The conduct of this trial has been a fiasco and it remains to be seen what will come of it.
My opinion

 

[Mex]

What do you mean by outnumbered? The prosecution is comprised of a team, same as the defence.

Possibly the impression has been given that the addition of judges to the defence team gives an unfair advantage.

Amongst reasons in support of my opinion is that I think the judge was ridiculing the witness with her bizarre performance following on HB's heartfelt and distressing testimony reliving her ordeal.

• "Under questioning on Thursday, she was asked about her assertion that, years later, she recognised CB's general description and photos - particularly his "bright" eyes - following police media appeals linked to Madeleine's disappearance."When you spend time in that situation as a person and there‘s nothing else that you can see of this human, other than their eyes, it's the only thing you remember."
  
  She compared them to "lights" during the night-time assault. "They were so bright. I just know them."
  
  Near the close of the day's session, the judge asked CB to approach the bench - apparently in order to examine his eyes. I remember Madeleine McCann suspect's eyes, rape accuser says

 

[johnlair]

Possibly the impression has been given that the addition of judges to the defence team gives an unfair advantage.

Amongst reasons in support of my opinion is that I think the judge was ridiculing the witness with her bizarre performance following on HB's heartfelt and distressing testimony reliving her ordeal.

• "Under questioning on Thursday, she was asked about her assertion that, years later, she recognised CB's general description and photos - particularly his "bright" eyes - following police media appeals linked to Madeleine's disappearance."When you spend time in that situation as a person and there‘s nothing else that you can see of this human, other than their eyes, it's the only thing you remember."
  
  She compared them to "lights" during the night-time assault. "They were so bright. I just know them."
  
  Near the close of the day's session, the judge asked CB to approach the bench - apparently in order to examine his eyes. I remember Madeleine McCann suspect's eyes, rape accuser says

Yes that story about the mother and daughter raped and murdered was part of the information found on the murder email account linked to MM death... I guess only time will tell what else was on there.