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

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@Trivento - you were correct! Well remembered! J. Brech. (no evidence of pockmarked skin, I agree, but the overall likeness is really good. Maybe he had spots or mosquito bites or something at the time?)

Post here - Madeleine McCann: German prisoner identified as suspect - #18

#368 on P.19 of this old MM thread - Madeleine McCann: German prisoner identified as suspect - #18
Brech was originally convicted of kidnapping and sexual abuse but not manslaughter due to lack of evidence. Prosecution appealed and the sentence was increased to include a manslaughter conviction.
 
With all these 'suspicious' people being observed, there must also have been a good number of paranoid tourists around.
 
The trial judge appears to have got her priorities mixed up a little and has overcompensated for a situation in which she was actually in complete control.
The German court system which has dispensed with the services of 'twelve good men and true' (AKA no jury) doesn't allow for "the views of the media, the defence and the prosecution, or the table of regulars-in-a-pub".
Which makes what she has said irrelevant.

Snip
'We as judges have sworn an oath, and it is to serve the truth only. We take this very seriously but we cannot wrap people in cotton wool.

'This oath means that we don't have to cater to the views of the media, the defence and the prosecution, or the table of regulars-in-a-pub.'

She went on: 'Everyone had heard about (CB) in the MM case and they all knew that CB since 2020 was always named by the public prosecution office.

'When in the media, a person is here described as a sex monster and a pervert, then it influences the witness. When massive third-party suggestions are made in this way, then the testimonies in court are almost worthless for the legal chamber.'

Thing is that only the learned judge seems to have overlooked the fact that MM did not feature at all in this equally serious case involving a lot of individuals who were reliant on the judge listening to their cases and giving them a fair hearing.
Not one of them got that. Which is entirely down to her but which she actually allowed to be out-with her control.

The MM case and the publicity surrounding it was nothing to do with her; but quite obviously she was the one who allowed it to take over her and the chamber in direct opposition to German practice..
My opinion
 
Do we know if the verdict was unanimous
Good question.
The prosecutor initially requested that only UE be removed; but no idea if the verdict was unanimous amongst the other two and the lay judges.
 
Good question.
The prosecutor initially requested that only UE be removed; but no idea if the verdict was unanimous amongst the other two and the lay judges.
Is there any way of finding out?
 
Is there any way of finding out?
There are press releases from the court?
There must be a record in writing somewhere one would think. Just I can't find it as yet.
Possibly when the judge submits her details of the case and reasons for her judgement in writing there will be more information.

The priorities seem to be different here. One of the first details we would have known in Britain was whether it was a unanimous verdict or a majority verdict and by how many.

There are those who deride all things British from our police to our press and everything in between, but from recent experience at least our press is far more transparent and informative (some might say intrusive) than their German counterparts.
 
I'm pretty sure that pockmarked man was identified as being someone else. IIRC, back in the mists of time, Tenko posted a side by side on a previous thread and the reason I remember it is because it was one of the best fotofits I'd seen where it so accurately captured the likeness of the person in question. A Portuguese man, I think...

Anyway, it's clearly not CB as CB looked at the time the fotofit was done.
It was Jos Brech, Dutch, for the death of Nicky Verstappen.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nicky_Verstappen
 

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Paywall from the BZ says after the appeal the Federal Court of Justice now checks the judgement for legal errors.


 
Same story from the Welt so it's on a newswire.


After the acquittal in the trial for several serious sexual offenses against Christian B., who was also suspected in the Maddie case, the public prosecutor appealed. The judicial authority announced this. The case now goes to the Federal Court of Justice, which checks the judgment for legal errors.

The Braunschweig Regional Court released the multiple criminal sex offender last week from accusation of three rapes and two cases of sexual abuse. There is insufficient evidence to convict, the presiding judge said. The prosecutor had requested 15 years in prison with subsequent preventive detention, the defense acquittal. The public prosecutor announced immediately after the acquittal that it would be revised.

The Braunschweig trial was the focus of international media because the accused is suspected of murder in the case of the three-year-old Madeleine «Maddie » McCann, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in 2007. The Maddie complex is not officially the subject of the current procedure; the presumption of innocence applies.

According to the current status, Christian B. is a free man at the beginning of 2026 at the latest. Until September 2025, he was still serving a sentence for raping a 72-year-old American. Subsequently, according to the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office, B. has to face a replacement sentence until the 6th January 2026, he should not pay 1,446 euros.
 
It was Jos Brech, Dutch, for the death of Nicky Verstappen.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nicky_Verstappen
CB's material from that time is of poor quality and his pockmarked face is barely visible, his friend MT recognized CB from the witness statement. So according to you, JB was hanging around the apartment? Didn't this JB appeal to boys?
 
Same story from the Welt so it's on a newswire.


After the acquittal in the trial for several serious sexual offenses against Christian B., who was also suspected in the Maddie case, the public prosecutor appealed. The judicial authority announced this. The case now goes to the Federal Court of Justice, which checks the judgment for legal errors.

The Braunschweig Regional Court released the multiple criminal sex offender last week from accusation of three rapes and two cases of sexual abuse. There is insufficient evidence to convict, the presiding judge said. The prosecutor had requested 15 years in prison with subsequent preventive detention, the defense acquittal. The public prosecutor announced immediately after the acquittal that it would be revised.

The Braunschweig trial was the focus of international media because the accused is suspected of murder in the case of the three-year-old Madeleine «Maddie » McCann, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in 2007. The Maddie complex is not officially the subject of the current procedure; the presumption of innocence applies.

According to the current status, Christian B. is a free man at the beginning of 2026 at the latest. Until September 2025, he was still serving a sentence for raping a 72-year-old American. Subsequently, according to the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office, B. has to face a replacement sentence until the 6th January 2026, he should not pay 1,446 euros.

The 1,446 euros is to pay for some misbehaviour in prison; one speculates where he will get the money to pay for that.
 

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