The man suspected of kidnapping Madeleine McCann will go on trial on Friday for sex crimes – but on charges unrelated to the disappearance of the young British woman.
German drifter Christian B. was accused of three rapes and two sexual assaults. The youngest alleged victim was 10 years old and the oldest in her 70s when the crimes are said to have occurred.
German privacy laws mean the media cannot identify Christian B, which is why Sky News covered most of his face and did not give his full surname.
Among the alleged victims in connection with the trial is Irish woman Hazel Behan, who told police she was raped twice, threatened with a knife, tied up, pulled by her hair, and subjected to a prolonged attack by a tall, thin German-speaking man after he broke into her apartment.
She was 20 years old and working at the Praia da Rocha resort on Portugal's Algarve coast when the attack happened in 2004.
She claimed that Portuguese police did not properly investigate her rape, failed to record a formal statement and told her it would “ruin the holiday trade”.
She thought her case would never be solved until 2020, when she saw a photo of Christian B in media reports revealing he was the new suspect in Madeleine's case.
She said in a statement to Irish police: “I began reading this article and from the description of the man, 6ft tall, white, of slim build, with blond hair, possibly blond, I felt sick, vomited, and my hands were torn up.” They were sweating.
“Because it was exactly like the exact description I gave to the police in Portugal at the time of the attack on me. I was raped by a man who fit this description.”
Ms Behan, who is now married and a mother of three children, is expected to be a key witness later in the trial, which will be held on different days over the next four months in the German city of Braunschweig.
The trial is being held there because it is Christian B's last registered home, even though the five sex crimes he is accused of were allegedly committed in Portugal.
Under EU law, any state can prosecute crimes committed in another member state.
Madeleine McCann
Christian B, 47, is accused of two other rapes; An unidentified woman aged between 70 and 80 in a holiday apartment and an unidentified girl aged at least 14 who he said tied to a pole and flogged at his rented house in Praia da Luz, the seaside village from which Madeleine later disappeared in 2007.
He is also said to have grabbed a 10-year-old girl and exposed himself to her on Sliema beach, and committed a similar act on a playground in the village of São Bartolomeu de Messines in the hills above the coast.
He was arrested in Messines in 2017 and extradited to Germany to complete his pending sentence there, the same year he became an official suspect in the Madeleine McCann case.
Madeleine was almost four years old when she disappeared without a trace from her family's rented vacation apartment in May 2007.
It has become one of the most famous mysteries in the world. German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said he believed Christian B had kidnapped Madeleine and that she had died, but the suspect has not been charged and denies any involvement.
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Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007
“The man I knew then was not the man I discovered he was or was supposed to be,” said Serafeim Vieira, the Portuguese lawyer who defended Cristian B in the 2006 diesel theft case.
He added: “He seemed like a normal guy traveling around Europe, having a good time, and in the end doing things that weren't quite right, as many people do.”
Mr Vieira said he doubted Christian B could get a fair trial after so much had been said and written about his character and previous convictions.
“The world thinks the worst of him, especially because of what the prosecutor said about his involvement in the Madeleine McCann case,” he said.
“I hope he gets a fair trial, but it is difficult.”
Christian B is currently in a German prison serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old American woman in her home in Praia da Luz in 2005.
He is expected to deny all rape and sex charges, said to have been committed between 2000 and 2017 while he regularly traveled between Germany and Portugal, when they are brought before court on Friday.
