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

[Mex]

I wonder if it was procedural, if you mean the alleged masturbating or weeing in the park, reports say CB was arrested on the spot because there was a EAW in place, when were the children interviewed and was it a specialist interviewer, what we have learnt is that the German system does not video record the interviews.

CB was detained on the spot when he was caught in the act of exposing himself to children who raised the alarm.

It was after that the existence of the European Arrest Warrant was found to be outstanding.

At that time the EAW had absolutely no locus in offences against the children in the playground.

 

[Mex]

Or the prosecution argument was not sufficient.In the case of HaB, FF acknowledged she suffered an horrendous attack but with no forensics and no positive redeeming feature such as the mark which CB does not have, how safe would a conviction have been.CB if he had or has piercing blue eyes is surely not alone.

The first link in the chain of the saga we have just witnessed was the DM aggravated rape trial.
Had this chamber been dealing with that prosecution one wonders if a defence questioning the forensic evidence would have been accepted. There is a great probability it would have been.
My opinion

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1843584746225352975

https://twitter.com/x/status/1843580392952975517

 

[mrjitty]

"Race against time" - ironic headline when the are more than 4 years out from saying they had the goods on him. I suspect an appeal will be their first move

 

[Dave55]

I wonder whether the prosecutors will now rush blindly ahead into an appeal, or take time to reflect of how and why they failed ?

 

[mrjitty]

I speculated that bringing these charges first could be high risk for the MM case and that's come to pass now. The Judges were not at all impressed with the key witnesses. So unless they have some hard evidence that we don't know about, i don't see an indictment being laid any time soon.

IMO

 

[Mex]

It was pretty obvious there was issues with the investigation/witnesses/evidence

Just as in Britain, in Germany there is a very stringent process involved in evidence being approved to allow prosecution.

This process was carried out in Germany based on the assaults found in Portuguese archives regarding DM which in turn led to HB coming forward in 2019 and her file being found there too.

There are always issues with evidence in rape cases. None more so than when forensics have been destroyed.

 

[UK Girl]

The judge called witnesses "unreliable, deliberately lying to the chamber. The chamber cannot base a judgment on such witnesses." And: "What evidence we had was not enough for a conviction. It may be extremely unsatisfactory for those involved, but that's how the rule of law works.Verdächtiger im Fall Maddie McCann: Christian Brückner freigesprochen

 

[Lyall0814]

Yes - on reflection, given what was allowed - it hasn’t been much of a case to answer. It’s annoying watching a defence win this way when one is pro-victim.

To the other point, the same will apply both ways - I highly doubt Fulscher & the boys would have gotten involved if CB wasn’t the suspect. Low profile equals low profile. High profile cases are what high profile defence lawyers & defence lawyers who want to be high profile, get involved in.

Fulscher wants the notoriety of a winner. He did a good job of distancing himself from morality & played to win. That included getting close to that line in the sand.
That mindset is a bit hazier with the prosecution & if they want to play this defence team I think they’ll need to throw a lot more mud the second time around.

When they put their head on their pillow - I highly doubt any of the defence are naive enough to not connect the dots.

Everything you say about "Fulscher and the boys" could equally apply to the prosecutors in this affair (including our dear friend). Some might be thinking so today in Germany.

 

[UK Girl]

Bearing the above can HB realistically ever be considered a reliable witness should the MM trial happen?

 

[Officer Dibble]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1843584746225352975

This sideways photo of him looking pockmarked in the face makes me immediately think of the artists impression of the pockmarked man seen at the apartments when MM when missing. Edited to add: JMO

 

[SuperdadV8]

"The responsible senior public prosecutor, Hans-Christian Wolters, is horrified by the verdict and said to BILD while the court was giving its reasons: “We are appealing the decision to the Federal Court of Justice. He will then check the judgment for legal errors. We hope that a BGH decision will be made before the prison release in September 2025. We would then have the opportunity to consider applying for a new arrest warrant.

And: “In addition, if necessary, we will also check whether we can apply for an arrest warrant in Maddie’s case. We have evidence that Christian Brückner killed Maddie McCann.”

Freispruch für Maddie-Mordverdächtigen: Beim Urteil verzog er keine Miene

Christian Brückner, Hauptverdächtiger im Fall Maddie McCann, wurde in einem separaten Prozess freigesprochen und könnte 2025 aus der Haft entlassen werden.

www.bild.de

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1843597521114779964

 

[Denis R Tandib]

"The responsible senior public prosecutor, Hans-Christian Wolters, is horrified by the verdict and said to BILD while the court was giving its reasons: “We are appealing the decision to the Federal Court of Justice. He will then check the judgment for legal errors. We hope that a BGH decision will be made before the prison release in September 2025. We would then have the opportunity to consider applying for a new arrest warrant.

And: “In addition, if necessary, we will also check whether we can apply for an arrest warrant in Maddie’s case. We have evidence that Christian Brückner killed Maddie McCann.”

Freispruch für Maddie-Mordverdächtigen: Beim Urteil verzog er keine Miene

Christian Brückner, Hauptverdächtiger im Fall Maddie McCann, wurde in einem separaten Prozess freigesprochen und könnte 2025 aus der Haft entlassen werden.

www.bild.de

HCW… know when you’ve said enough!

 

[RichardKimble]

Dbm.

 

[Davieson]

HCW… know when you’ve said enough!

Sounds as if he's taken it a bit personal to me.

 

[Lilly b]

Acquittal!

Acquitted, not enough evidence, but at least the public are now aware of the type of guy he is

 

[Mex]

Bearing the above can HB realistically ever be considered a reliable witness should the MM trial happen?

What relevance do you think HB's rape has to MM's abduction. Why would she be called as a witness should there be a trial?

As far as HB's rape ordeal is concerned she has proved to be a very reliable witness and a very brave one, who doesn't merit innuendo of any sort to be directed at her.
My opinion

 

[Mex]

Acquitted, not enough evidence, but at least the public are now aware of the type of guy he is

During his time in Portugal few if any knew what he was so even if he has been acquitted of these charges, everyone knows of the vile offences he has been found guilty of.
Hopefully the warning will prevent future victims.

 

[mrjitty]

Overall not a surprising result given the difficulty of bringing historical cases without any forensics.

I support the prosecution in bringing the charges but they just didn't have solid evidence in the end.

It's not great how the Court savaged CB's associates though - any prosecutor will think twice before relying on them for an MM indictment.

02c