Portugal Colonial - German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes

Prosecutors said they would appeal the not-guilty verdict for Christian Brueckner, who is now 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 persons 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 that "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.

The move at the time was a technicality as Brueckner remained behind bars.

But his lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher argued that the court's decision was a "clear sign that the defendant will be acquitted".

After Tuesday's verdict, Fuelscher said the acquittal came as "no surprise" and "there could be no other outcome from the point of view of the defence".

Brueckner's current rape sentence runs until September 2025, but Fuelscher has 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.

M.A.Vaz--PC