October 8th 2024.
In a recent court case in Germany, a man was acquitted of sexual offences that were unrelated to the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, in which he is also currently under investigation. The 47-year-old German, known to the media as Christian Brueckner, was cleared of two counts of rape and two counts of sexual abuse by the Braunschweig state court.
However, despite this acquittal, Brueckner will remain in prison for another year as he is currently serving a seven-year sentence for a separate rape case, as reported by German news agency dpa. This particular trial has been ongoing since February, focusing on offences that Brueckner is accused of committing in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
Throughout the trial, Brueckner's defence lawyers argued that there was a lack of evidence and questioned the credibility of witnesses. They also suggested that he may not have been charged if he had not been a suspect in the McCann case. On the other hand, prosecutors argued for a 15-year prison sentence and for Brueckner to be kept in preventive detention after serving his sentence.
In the end, the presiding judge, Uta Engemann, announced the acquittal, stating that the evidence presented was not enough to convict the defendant. She also noted that some witnesses had deliberately lied to the court and that their statements may have been influenced by the media's portrayal of Brueckner as a "sex monster and child murderer."
This verdict can still be appealed, according to dpa. Meanwhile, Brueckner remains under investigation for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, but has not been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort where Madeleine went missing, but has denied any involvement in the case.
It's worth noting that Brueckner's last German residence was in Braunschweig, giving the state court jurisdiction over his current trial. In cases like this, support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT.
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