McCann suspect raped woman at knifepoint, trial says

A woman who claims she was raped by the man suspected of Madeleine McCann’s murder has made harrowing statements in court.

Hazel Behan said she felt “a fear that I could never put into words” after being woken up by a masked stranger.

It is one of five charges of sexual offenses against Christian Brückner, who is also the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

In both cases he denies involvement.

Warning: This article contains disturbing details

Madeleine McCann went missing from Praia de Luz in Portugal’s Algarve region in 2007 at the age of three.

The case remains unsolved, but German investigators have identified 47-year-old Brückner as the main suspect, although he was never charged.

The sexual offense allegations he is on trial for have nothing to do with McCann, but are all believed to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

A court in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, has heard from an Irish woman, Hazel Behan, who used to work as a holiday representative in Praia de Rocha.

The 40-year-old, who sat just a few meters away from Brückner in the courtroom, previously waived her anonymity.

She told the judges how she went to a bar one evening in June 2004 when she was 20.

She then walked the short way back to her apartment building alone because her boyfriend was involved in an argument.

“Except for that night, I never went home alone,” and her boyfriend’s behavior “worried her a little,” she said.

After falling asleep in her clothes, the next thing she remembered was being “awakened by someone calling my name.”

She said she briefly thought it might be her boyfriend trying to apologize before she realized he didn’t have a key and then saw a man dressed “head to toe” in black and carrying a knife was armed.

She described being raped three times in a lengthy ordeal – in her bedroom and at the apartment’s breakfast bar.

“I had three children and never felt this pain,” she told the court.

Ms Behan, who became emotional during parts of her testimony, recalled being tied up and whipped – with the attacker filming part of the attack.

She said the man told her more than once not to scream and asked if she was scared.

She added that he spoke English with a German accent, had piercing blue eyes and a mark on his thigh.

At one point she feared he would “cut my head off,” but eventually she saw him escape through the balcony door.

In previous weeks, money she had kept in a box under her bed had been stolen, leaving her feeling “unsafe” in the apartment.

Ms Behan spoke about the alleged callous treatment she would later receive from Portuguese police in the handling of her case.

She said at an arranged appointment the officers chatted with each other, one of them with her feet on the desk, before “throwing” some of her belongings at her.

Years later, Hazel Behan read a news article about Brückner, Googled him and said she recognized his striking eyes in a photo that made her physically ill.

An assault he had already been convicted of bore a strong resemblance to her own, she said – which prompted her to come forward.

Speaking about the longer-term impact of the attack allegedly carried out by Brückner, Ms Behan suggested that if she had not become pregnant – at a later date – with her son, she would no longer be here.

She told the court she had been “carefree” before the attack.

“When something like this happens to you, you are no longer the same person.”

Ms Behan told the court she still takes medication for panic attacks to this day.

Christian Brückner’s legal team had previously stated that the entire case was based on shaky foundations and denied the allegations.

The process continues.

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