crime
Witness about Christian B.: He didn’t seem completely kosher at the time
The defendant Christian B. comes into the courtroom in the Braunschweig regional court with handcuffs. photo
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa Pool/dpa
A witness video was played in the rape trial against the man who was also suspected in the Maddie case. The former acquaintance reports that Christian B. seemed strange at the time.
In the rape trial against the also in the case Maddie’s murder suspect Christian B. is an acquaintance from their time together in Portugal. A focus of the questioning was the transport of some bags for B. after he was arrested for stealing diesel in the Algarve. The statement was played on video in the Braunschweig regional court because the 56-year-old man now lives in Cambodia.
At the beginning of the 2000s, it was an acquaintance between Germans for mutual favors, the witness reported. He said he saw CDs in the bags from B’s house, some of which were labeled with pornographic titles. According to his own statements, he threw away some of these CDs, whose labels suggested violent content, on the way to the friend’s house. He explained that he did not want children or young people in the house to see these things. The witness told many things “with reservations” because it was difficult to remember after such a long time.
Case Maddie is not part of the current negotiations
Christian B. has to answer in the trial for three cases of rape and two cases of child abuse in Portugal. Many media outlets are covering the proceedings because the convicted sex criminal is suspected of murder in the case of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, known as Maddie, who disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007. However, these investigations are not the subject of the current hearing. The 47-year-old’s defense made it clear at the start of the trial that, in their view, their client would be acquitted of all accused crimes.
With a view to the recorded interview, the court made it clear that it was not a key prosecution witness for the proceedings. However, he should, among other things, provide information about the defendant’s lifestyle at the time and where he lived. The 56-year-old reported that he met B. a few times back then. The house seemed neglected to him. It didn’t fit with the fact that B. often wore a jacket and drove a Jaguar. B. told him about smaller burglary sprees and he wanted to keep contact as minimal as possible. B. seemed strange and not entirely kosher.
Negotiations for the trial have so far been scheduled until June. From the defense’s perspective, it has long been clear that this will not be enough for this extensive procedure.