- 'Evacuate now, now, now': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Sparks fly as Orban berates EU 'elites' in parliament trip
- US finalizes rule to remove lead pipes within a decade
- Solanke hungry for second England cap after seven-year wait
- Gilded canopy restored at Vatican basilica
- Zverev scrapes through, Djokovic cruises to Shanghai Masters last 16
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Gauff answers critics: 'It's hard to win all the time'
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- China says raised 'serious concerns' with US over trade curbs
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Italy seek Nations League consistency as Germany continue rebuild
- From boom to budgeting as reality bites for Saudi football
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- England 96-1 after Salman's century lifts Pakistan to 556
- Hollywood star Idris Elba champions African cinema in Ghana
- Djokovic rolls Cobolli to make Shanghai Masters last 16
- Milan's Hernandez receives two-game suspension after referee rant
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Ex-Barcelona and Spain great Iniesta retires aged 40
- Ex-skipper Skelton eyes Wallabies November return
- Spanish great Iniesta leaves indelible legacy after retirement
- Indian Kashmir elects first regional government in a decade
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- September second-warmest on record: EU climate monitor
- Pastor wanted by US for sex trafficking to run for Philippine senate
- Mozambican writer Mia Couto dreams future leaders set an 'example'
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case cleared in separate sex crimes trial
- Israel expands offensive against Hezbollah in south Lebanon
- Bangladesh's Yunus says no elections before reforms
- England strike twice as Pakistan reach 397-6 at lunch in first Test
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Kenya's deputy president faces impeachment vote
- N. Korean soldiers 'highly likely' killed in Ukraine: Seoul
- 'Appeals Centre' to referee EU social media disputes
- US Supreme Court to hear 'ghost guns' regulation case
- 'Small' oil leaks detected in Samoa after NZ navy shipwreck
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- At Istanbul church, blessed spring offers hope to Christians and Muslims
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- Myanmar to send rep to regional summit for first time in three years
- Prabowo set to lead bolder Indonesia on world stage
- Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears
- New Japan PM to hold talks on ASEAN sidelines
- Record number of climbers chase 14-peak dream in Tibet
- Former South Korea clinic for US 'comfort women' to be demolished
- Chiefs battle past Saints to stay unbeaten
RBGPF | -0.46% | 60.52 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.29% | 6.97 | $ | |
GSK | -1.56% | 38.035 | $ | |
NGG | 0.47% | 65.79 | $ | |
SCS | -0.27% | 12.915 | $ | |
BCC | -0.38% | 140.74 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.06% | 24.555 | $ | |
RELX | 0.93% | 46.47 | $ | |
RIO | -4.87% | 66.385 | $ | |
BCE | -0.74% | 33.285 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.04% | 24.801 | $ | |
VOD | -0.36% | 9.655 | $ | |
AZN | -0.34% | 76.61 | $ | |
JRI | 0.15% | 13.2 | $ | |
BTI | -0.14% | 35.15 | $ | |
BP | -3.48% | 32.025 | $ |
German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of other sex crimes
A German man named as the top suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann was Tuesday cleared of all charges in an unrelated sex crimes trial, meaning he is set for release from prison next year.
Prosecutors said they would appeal the not-guilty verdict for Christian Brueckner, who is currently behind bars for raping an elderly US woman in Portugal and whom they have labelled a "dangerous psychopathic sadist".
Brueckner -- a tall 47-year-old with blond hair, blue eyes and sporting the same grey coat he has worn throughout the hearings -- showed no visible reaction when the judge acquitted him of five counts of rape and child sex abuse.
Prosecutors had levelled these charges in the course of ongoing investigations into the disappearance of "Maddie" in Portugal -- one of the most high-profile missing person cases in history.
The three-year-old vanished from her family's holiday apartment while her parents were dining at a nearby tapas bar. Despite a huge manhunt and global media attention, no trace of her has been found.
Brueckner is currently serving a sentence for raping a 72-year-old US tourist in 2005 in Praia da Luz, the same seaside resort where Madeleine went missing two years later.
Prosecutors in Brueckner's latest trial had called for him to be jailed for a further 15 years.
However, presiding judge Uta Engemann said Brueckner could "not be convicted of the acts he is accused of" because of unreliable witness testimony and a lack of hard forensic evidence.
- 'Inconsistent' testimony -
German investigators named Brueckner as a suspect in the "Maddie" investigation in 2020, but they have yet to charge him in that case, although they say they are certain Madeleine is dead.
Two years ago, Brueckner was charged with the five separate counts of rape and child sex abuse that prosecutors alleged he had committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
In one of the alleged cases, Brueckner was accused of entering the holiday apartment of a woman aged between 70 and 80, tying her up and beating and sexually assaulting her.
In another, prosecutors charged that he had entered a young Irish woman's apartment via her balcony while she was sleeping, threatening her with a knife and raping her several times.
He had also been accused of exposing himself to a 10-year-old German girl on a beach and to an 11-year-old Portuguese girl at a playground.
Notebooks seized from Brueckner detailing his sexual fantasies were used as evidence, but despite their disturbing content, they provided no direct link to the alleged crimes.
Engemann labelled some of the witness testimonies as "inconsistent" and "almost worthless".
She acknowledged that the verdict might be "unsatisfactory" for the victims but said the judges were bound by their oath to impartiality and not the expectations of prosecutors, the media or the public.
Prosecution spokesman Christian Wolters told AFP: "We consider the judgement to be wrong in substance and will therefore appeal so that the Federal Court of Justice will review the decision again for legal errors."
- 'No surprise' -
In July, Brueckner's lawyers had first succeeded in having an arrest warrant against him cancelled as there was no longer deemed to be an "urgent suspicion" that he committed the five offences.
His lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher on Tuesday said the acquittal came as "no surprise" and "there could be no other outcome from the point of view of the defence".
Fuelscher also said he had lodged an application for a retrial in the case of Brueckner's conviction for the rape of the 72-year-old in 2005, citing doubts over the credibility of a witness who testified in both trials.
Brueckner's sentence for that crime runs until September 2025, but Fuelscher has previously said he could be free as early as next spring.
Wolters told AFP earlier this week that German investigations are continuing in the "Maddie" case.
"At present, I am unable to say when we will be able to conclude these investigations and with what result," he said.
Fuelscher said that "if the investigations go as badly as they have in this case, I don't see any chance" that Brueckner could be convicted in the "Maddie" case.
H.Silva--PC