Madeleine McCann: German Prisoner Identified as Suspect, #39

[Mex]

The reason the rapes in the video weren't prosecuted back in '19 is they didn't have the victims. I think we can safely assume these alleged rapes were never reported. When the public appeal didn't produce the victims, but produced a new alleged victim who claims to ID the accused, the prosecutor's case was strong enough to move forward on all 3. HBs case has moved on a fairly normal timetable IMO.

I believe HB was subjected to aggravated rape in 2004 during which she was put in fear of her life. Just as DM was. She had also given up any hopes for justice against the perpetrator until the German investigation caused her to make comparison with her ordeal and that suffered by DM.​

Snip
“I am delighted that after many hours and days of interviews in Ireland and Germany I am finally going to see justice, It was very hard and gruelling going back over the attack, having to spend over 20 hours with detectives in Ireland and then three days with police in Germany. But the specific dedicated teams in both countries were so sensitive and good at taking me back to that night.”

The mother-of-three said: “I always said my attacker was a German with piercing blue eyes and a voice I would recognise immediately. When CB' name was released in connection to the MM case and to the rape of that poor woman DM, I knew it was him.

“I knew I had to speak out and help the police. My family were behind me 100%. In fact, it was my brother who had spotted it first on RTE and sent me a link. The minute I saw it, I was certain he was my attacker. It made me sick to the core.

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/irishwoman-allegedly-raped-madeleine-mccann-25239044#google_vignette

 

[Mex]

The reason the rapes in the video weren't prosecuted back in '19 is they didn't have the victims. I think we can safely assume these alleged rapes were never reported. When the public appeal didn't produce the victims, but produced a new alleged victim who claims to ID the accused, the prosecutor's case was strong enough to move forward on all 3. HBs case has moved on a fairly normal timetable IMO.

Back in 2019 CB was unknown in the public domain as the prime MM suspect. He wasn't a celebrity then - just another sex criminal who the German prosecutors were obliged to prosecute once they had sufficient evidence to do so.
My opinion

As we know the evidence of HB's ordeal is all on Portuguese police records including the fact that it was filmed. We also know that the five cases charged against CB including HB's are all stand alone and nothing to do with each other or MM.


Snip
Reacting to the string of new charges, CB's lawyer FF told MailOnline: 'This has come as a complete surprise to me and my client.

'The charges appear to be based on statements from two dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find.

'These same two people have also given evidence in the McCann case and I have not even been shown their testimony.

'Part of the evidence in the case of the rape [of the 20-year-old woman] is that the attacker had a large tattoo or birthmark on his leg and the prosecution knows full well my client has neither.

'To bring charges the prosecutor has to be convinced the information in the case is reliable and relevant and we believe it is not. This is not a fair investigation.'

The case against Brueckner is expected to start next Spring.

Irish woman 'raped by Maddie suspect' speaks out after he is charged

Hazel Behan, now 39, was raped at knifepoint inside a holiday apartment in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, in June 2004 by a man she believes is Christian Brueckner.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[mrjitty]

Back in 2019 CB was unknown in the public domain as the prime MM suspect. He wasn't a celebrity then - just another sex criminal who the German prosecutors were obliged to prosecute once they had sufficient evidence to do so.
My opinion

Sure. This is why i don't believe the MM prosecution is being saved up as some kind of chess strategy.

HCW is obliged to prosecute what he can.

 

[Mex]

Sure. This is why i don't believe the MM prosecution is being saved up as some kind of chess strategy.

HCW is obliged to prosecute what he can.

I have been familiarising myself with some archaic information to gain a better understanding of legal procedures which are actually quite alien to me and even to some federal American jurisdictions. Which read along with current circumstances taken into account are well worth a read. For instance a difficult subject couched in terms even a layman can understand including the common sense behind a lot of the constitution which dates from post-war times till the present day, is the following link.

The common sense deduction regarding the non-process or process of the MM case is well within the pages of explanation covered herein and in other documents.
My opinion

THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
By Willam T. Sweigert

https://repository.uclawsf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1611&context=hastings_law_journal

'

 

[Mex]

Sure. This is why i don't believe the MM prosecution is being saved up as some kind of chess strategy.

HCW is obliged to prosecute what he can.

I firmly share your belief.

 

[RichardKimble]

I doubt it has much bearing on the McCann case, but when instigating a EAW, the suspect can't be interviewed about what happened, they(police,CPS) must be confident about the evidence to go to court, source :
Killer At The Crime Scene, S3,E1 Ch5. 37 seven minutes in.

My5

www.channel5.com

 

[RichardKimble]

I wonder if CB did this, and where exactly.

What is the Anmeldung?

When you register your new address at the Bürgeramt

allaboutberlin.com

 

[mrjitty]

I wonder if CB did this, and where exactly.

What is the Anmeldung?

When you register your new address at the Bürgeramt

allaboutberlin.com

We know he did do it, because he was registered at the Braunschweig flat. He never updated it. The registration is a document, but the address is also on your ID card.

Basically life in germany revolves around the registration.

 

[RichardKimble]

We know he did do it, because he was registered at the Braunschweig flat. He never updated it. The registration is a document, but the address is also on your ID card.

Basically life in germany revolves around the registration.

Thanks, now it's clearer as to the jurisdiction issue, seems a mere techincality, but there you go, it is what it is.

 

[Mex]

Thanks, now it's clearer as to the jurisdiction issue, seems a mere techincality, but there you go, it is what it is.

CB is a career criminal who had a lifetime of operating under the radar to avoid the consequences of his various crimes against property, illegal drug transactions etc. and against the persons of women and children.

In 2023 the mere technicality of which jurisdiction he comes under was successful in throwing a spanner into the works of due process and has the potential to work its way through the whole justice system.
Snip
CB was charged last year by German prosecutors in Brunswick with three offences of aggravated rape of women and two offences (regarding) children. The offences took place in Portugal between December 2000 and July 2017. They are not linked to MM’s disappearance.

The regional tribunal in Brunswick, north Germany, said on Thursday it had decided it was “not competent” to hear the case against him because his “last known address” in Germany was in another state, Saxony-Anhalt.
The trial had been due to start imminently.
end of quote

Following his extradition from Italy CB was initially taken to Frankfurt before being tried in Braunschweig for crimes carried out in both Germany and Portugal. All at a time when it seems his defence might not have known of his status as prime suspect in crime against MM.
My opinion

Sex offences trial of Madeleine McCann suspect cancelled in Germany

Brunswick court says jurisdiction issue prevents it hearing case against Christian Brückner on charges unrelated to British toddler

www.theguardian.com

 

[Mex]

Thanks, now it's clearer as to the jurisdiction issue, seems a mere techincality, but there you go, it is what it is.

I think the jurisdiction issue remains as clear as mud

 

[JB1510]

Came across this online, a uk journalist was given access to rehabilitating paedophiles in Hamburg Germany prior to the naming of suspect CB. Apparently these people abhorred CB before he was named in June 2020. I‘m not sure if this was due to possible press coverage ? of the DM case in 2019 that brought this about or his conviction for his assault on his girlfriend’s daughter when registered in Braunschweig before absconding to Portugal.
Or was he known personally by some of these individuals.

Also interesting that due to the nature of his offending ie torture /sexual assault he is looked down upon by other offenders with interests in children.

 

[Mex]

We know he did do it, because he was registered at the Braunschweig flat. He never updated it. The registration is a document, but the address is also on your ID card.

Basically life in germany revolves around the registration.

From the little we know of CB's official whereabouts it seems the German police kept as close an eye on him as was possible.

What might have been the reason for that?
Was he under restrictions regarding his movements? Issuing an European Arrest Warrant which was used by the Italian police police to arrest him, keep him in prison then extradite him, suggests the police were waiting for him to make a move. To which his flight to Italy was the catalyst.

CB seems to have shown all the attributes of being a rough sleeper both in Germany and Italy and anywhere else in between and although apparently still having property in Germany did his best to keep off the radar by sleeping rough?

By his own admission CB was homeless with no fixed abode. How is decision regarding to which jurisdiction he belongs to arrived at, in such circumstances?
My opinion

Snip
After his release from prison, he found himself homeless and said he felt persecuted by the police who followed his every move, even as he slept on a park bench, he said.

After travelling to Italy to take a holiday, he was arrested again at the end of September 2018 in Milan, and extradited to Germany. In August 2019 authorities in Braunschweig charged him with the 2005 rape of the US woman, with his conviction following in December.

Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brückner fled police in 1995

German had first conviction for child sexual abuse while a teenager and fled Germany for Portugal

www.theguardian.com

 

[Mex]

Came across this online, a uk journalist was given access to rehabilitating paedophiles in Hamburg Germany prior to the naming of suspect CB. Apparently these people abhorred CB before he was named in June 2020. I‘m not sure if this was due to possible press coverage ? of the DM case in 2019 that brought this about or his conviction for his assault on his girlfriend’s daughter when registered in Braunschweig before absconding to Portugal.
Or was he known personally by some of these individuals.

Also interesting that due to the nature of his offending ie torture /sexual assault he is looked down upon by other offenders with interests in children.

CB did have a presence on the internet. I think it possible some of these people knew him by reputation and some may have been internet "friends".

If these people were in rehab and were using a legitimate forum for that purpose, they all had to have been discovered doing something heinous to begin with.

If his name was already a 'household word' for them - I think some definitely knew more than they were saying to the journalist.

 

[RichardKimble]

We know he did do it, because he was registered at the Braunschweig flat. He never updated it. The registration is a document, but the address is also on your ID card.

Basically life in germany revolves around the registration.

I'd venture then that the Braunschweig prosecutors would have seen it has a mere formality to argue where his domicile is, yet somehow CB'S legal team have proved for now his registered domicile is elsewhere in Germany. I'm wondering if the courts side with CB on this then where does it leave the DM case, were the Braunschweig office legal in that prosecution?

Another thought, the reregistering of the Jag, which address did CB have it registered to? also any official correspondence to CB, where would that have arrived at, I'm thinking the like of passport renewal, his ID card etc.

 

[mrjitty]

I'd venture then that the Braunschweig prosecutors would have seen it has a mere formality to argue where his domicile is, yet somehow CB'S legal team have proved for now his registered domicile is elsewhere in Germany.

Yes. The question is where did he last live in germany. So the prosecutors relied on his last registered address before he 'fled' Germany. The defence argued he came back since then and started living at the box factory, therefore his last domicile was there and not Braunschweig. I think the defence is obviously correct based on what we know. He was back, and he must have lived somewhere, and it wasn't the Braunschweig flat.

We don't know why he never updated his registered address but it seems likely he didn't want to be found easily. I also speculate that he wasn't able to update his registration as you can't just claim to live anywhere. e.g you cannot register at the allotments because it is not allowed to live there so you won't be able to get the right paperwork. I suspect also the box factory, for the same reason.

One of the articles upthread speculated he maintained the Braunschweig mailing address as a fake address, presumably with the assistance of the landlord. That is quite common in germany for various reasons, especially schools.

I'm wondering if the courts side with CB on this then where does it leave the DM case, were the Braunschweig office legal in that prosecution?

I would speculate it has no impact on that case as the issue was not raised pretrial. i.e it is too late to raise the issue.

Another thought, the reregistering of the Jag, which address did CB have it registered to? also any official correspondence to CB, where would that have arrived at, I'm thinking the like of passport renewal, his ID card etc.

The jag was registered to his friend in Augsburg IIRC

I don't know where he was registered back then, but I am guessing he had officially exited germany if he needed a friend to register the jag.

 

[RichardKimble]

Yes. The question is where did he last live in germany. So the prosecutors relied on his last registered address before he 'fled' Germany. The defence argued he came back since then and started living at the box factory, therefore his last domicile was there and not Braunschweig. I think the defence is obviously correct based on what we know. He was back, and he must have lived somewhere, and it wasn't the Braunschweig flat.

We don't know why he never updated his registered address but it seems likely he didn't want to be found easily. I also speculate that he wasn't able to update his registration as you can't just claim to live anywhere. e.g you cannot register at the allotments because it is not allowed to live there so you won't be able to get the right paperwork. I suspect also the box factory, for the same reason.

One of the articles upthread speculated he maintained the Braunschweig mailing address as a fake address, presumably with the assistance of the landlord. That is quite common in germany for various reasons, especially schools.



I would speculate it has no impact on that case as the issue was not raised pretrial. i.e it is too late to raise the issue.



The jag was registered to his friend in Augsburg IIRC

I don't know where he was registered back then, but I am guessing he had officially exited germany if he needed a friend to register the jag.

BIB, no doubt we'll find out in the fullness of time, which argument wins out.

 

[mrjitty]

BIB, no doubt we'll find out in the fullness of time, which argument wins out.

Yes we shall see.

I am fairly sure the HB case will go to trial one way or the other. But it is obviously interesting for the MM case.

As HCW himself says, the resource tied up in the MM case could be a sore point. Who really wants an out of jurisdiction murder cold case which is also one of the most famous cases in the world. One would suspect the Magdeburg prosecutors would not have interest in it, unless it was really going to trial.

 

[Anxala]

Yes we shall see.

I am fairly sure the HB case will go to trial one way or the other. But it is obviously interesting for the MM case.

As HCW himself says, the resource tied up in the MM case could be a sore point. Who really wants an out of jurisdiction murder cold case which is also one of the most famous cases in the world. One would suspect the Magdeburg prosecutors would not have interest in it, unless it was really going to trial.

And even then, maybe not. Not everyone would regard the MM case as a 'get' as it's so riddled with messy history. HCW clearly has the enthusiasm required but I'm not sure others would view it with quite the same passion, world stage or not.

But academic I think, as I doubt very much CB will ever be charged.

 

[Mex]

And even then, maybe not. Not everyone would regard the MM case as a 'get' as it's so riddled with messy history. HCW clearly has the enthusiasm required but I'm not sure others would view it with quite the same passion, world stage or not.

But academic I think, as I doubt very much CB will ever be charged.

It has all become terribly messy and there is obviously a movement afoot which would like the final outcome of the MM case to be oblivion. Despite that would allow CB the freedom to follow pursuits such as those with which there was sufficient evidence to charge him and bring him to trial. And extraordinarily that support for that outcome is not confined to CB and his defence.

Ultimately we are discussing an anomaly of German law which is preventing the rule of law in these cases to be administered. But the criminal investigation is a three pronged procedure in which the Portuguese State has an interest having constituted CB arguido.
I'm not aware of any impediment which would prevent CB being tried for offences committed in Portugal.

I think he will face trial in Germany though for the five delayed charges and then MM.

My opinion