Ex-boyfriend refutes alleged victim in Maddie suspect's rape trial

DPA
·2 min read
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The defendant Christian B. enters the courtroom at Braunschweig Regional Court. In the rape trial in Germany of the Madeleine McCann murder suspect identified under privacy laws as Christian B, doubts have been raised about the accounts of an alleged victim. Julian Stratenschulte/dpa Pool/dpa
The defendant Christian B. enters the courtroom at Braunschweig Regional Court. In the rape trial in Germany of the Madeleine McCann murder suspect identified under privacy laws as Christian B, doubts have been raised about the accounts of an alleged victim. Julian Stratenschulte/dpa Pool/dpa

In the rape trial in Germany of the Madeleine McCann murder suspect identified under privacy laws as Christian B, doubts have been raised about the accounts of an alleged victim.

The female witness' ex-boyfriend from Ireland and a former bar owner from Portugal accuse the woman of untruths and a fabricated rape, according to documents read out in the Braunschweig Regional Court in northern Germany on Friday.

In the previous days, the 40-year-old Irish woman had described an attack involving several rapes about 20 years ago in Portugal. She had stated that she recognized the now 47-year-old defendant as the perpetrator by his blue eyes.

The public prosecutor's office rejected statements made by the former bar owner as clearly false and therefore useless.

The accused's defence had already stated at the start of the trial that there was no doubt that a serious crime had been committed, but that their client was not the perpetrator. He would be acquitted of all charges at the end of the trial, the defence said.

The 47-year-old German is not commenting on the charges himself.

In the trial, the sex offender, who has several previous convictions, is accused of a total of three rapes and two cases of sexual abuse of children.

The trial is arousing great interest because the accused is also suspected of murder in the case of 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007. However, the Maddie case is not the subject of the current trial. The presumption of innocence applies.

On the third consecutive day of the trial, the defence lawyers complained to the court about the conditions for the accused, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for another rape - also in Portugal.

He has not been given any hot food in the past few days and has been denied a shower and was only given some toast and a few slices of sausage, they said.

The trial is also due to continue next week with three days of hearings in a row.