NO MERCY
Maddie suspect raped me at knifepoint even after I told him I was pregnant…afterwards he said ‘not anymore’, court hears
Hazel said that Brueckner chillingly asked during the attack: 'You are afraid of me aren’t you?'
MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner repeatedly raped a holiday rep despite her pleading she was pregnant, a court heard.
Hazel B., then 20, told a court in Germany how Christian Brueckner tied her up, raped and whipped her, after climbing into her Portugal balcony three years before Maddie vanished.
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The tour guide today told a court when she realised what he had planned, she lied that she was pregnant - thinking it would deter him.
But she told judges "it didn't matter" as the monster raped her three times at knifepoint and left her terrified he would behead her.
The mum-of-three wept as she gave the evidence - seen as crucial to keeping Brueckner behind bars so he can face Maddie charges.
Hazel said: "I said I was pregnant, because I thought this person wouldn't want to go near someone who was pregnant. But that didn't matter.
"I have had three children but I have never felt a pain like it. I felt like that moment would last forever."
Hazel told the court just before Brueckner finished raping her be said: “You’re pregnant. You’re not pregnant anymore.”
The victim told how she woke to armed Brueckner putting his hand over her mouth and threatening "don’t f*****g scream of I’ll kill you".
Hazel described how she felt fear she could "never put into words" when a man "dressed fully in black from head to toe with a knife" broke into her apartment on June 16, 2004, in Praia da Rocha.
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During the attack, the masked sicko allegedly asked: “You are afraid of me aren’t you?”
When she lied and said “no”, he whipped her then chillingly demanded: “Are you afraid of me now?”
Maddie McCann suspect 'bragged about break ins wearing tights & goggles'
She said: "My body was shaking uncontrollably and he said "you're scared aren't you?" I said 'no' - but I was afraid."
After raping her, the mum told how Brueckner dragged her by the hair from the bedroom to the living room and tied her face-down to a breakfast bar, suspended in the air.
Describing the second rape, Hazel said he started filming her before he took a leather whip out of his bag.
She told how Brueckner untied her from the bench and took her back to the bedroom to rape her a third time - this time under the threat of a knife.
Hazel said she thought he was going "to kill her in the bathroom" when he put a sheet over her head.
She said: "That's when I thought what is he going to do - is he going to chop my head off?"
Hazel then watched through gap between the sheet and floor as Breuckner put on his shoes and walked backwards through her balcony doors.
Once she realised he was gone, Hazel told how she rang in her underwear to colleagues returning from a night out, who thought she was playing "a joke".
She told the court Brueckner was clearly “aroused by the power and the control”.
And she revealed when she went to the police where dismissive Portuguese cops told Hazel to “go home” to Ireland, claiming she could ruin the reputation of tourism in the resort and threatening her friends “might lose their jobs”.
Callous officers threw a bag of evidence across the table at the victim - in the same interview room where they accused the McCanns of killing their daughter, the court heard.
German prosecutors are understood to want Brueckner trapped behind bars for years before they move to charge him over missing Maddie.
DNA swabs taken from Hazel's case were later destroyed due to supposed “adverse preservation conditions”, and further physical evidence was also destroyed in 2009.
Eleven years later, however, she approached UK police and asked them to reopen her case, compelled at hearing about the German suspect linked to Maddie.
Hazel B. has waived her right to anonymity when she went public with her claim but she is still referred to by her first name, according to German law.
Madeleine, three, disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry, now both 55, of Rothley, Leics.
German investigators believe Brueckner abducted and murdered her - although no charges have been filed against him.
Prosecutors in Germany confirmed Ms Fehlinger had been named in relation to sex abuse of children, in court.
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Brueckner is on trial for a string of rapes and indecent exposure charges, uncovered during the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
He denies the claims. The trial continues.
Madeleine McCann's disappearance
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 - and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearance.
Almost 17 years on, no one has been charged in connection. These are the key dates:
May 3, 2007 - Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10pm
May 14, 2007 - Property developer Robert Murat is named an "arguido" or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 - The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual - a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine
September 7, 2007 - Kate and Gerry McCann are made "arguidos"
September 9, 2007- Madeleine's parents return to England with their two-year-old twins
October 2, 2007- Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview
July 21, 2009 - Portuguese police lift the "arguido" status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 - On Madeleine's eighth birthday, Scotland Yard launches a review into the case
April 25, 2012 - Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive
July 4, 2013 - Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine's disappearance
October 24, 2013- Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found
November 27, 2013 - Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together
October 28, 2015 - Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine's disappearance
March 11, 2017 - The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September
September 28, 2017 - British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe going until March 2018
November 2017 - Cops moved the search to Bulgaria
May 2018 - Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
September 2018 - An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office
November 2018 - More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
November 2018 - UK police re-examine a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents
June 2019 - Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
June 2019 - Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers
June 2020 - New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo Christian Brueckner
April 2022 - Brueckner formally made an "arguido"
May 2023 - Police search remote Algarve reservoir Brueckner called his "little paradise"
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