Prosecutor's office in the public eye - Investigative efforts probing Christian B. face scrutiny.
During the trial of Christian B. for five severe crimes, the defense has raised concerns about the way police conducted their investigation in some instances. Attorney Friedrich Fülsche submitted an objection concerning the proper handling of data on an external hard drive. In court in Braunschweig, he claimed on Thursday that German investigators did not secure the hard drive adequately in Portugal.
Christian B. has been detained at the Braunschweig Regional Court since February, facing charges of three rapes and two instances of sexual abuse of children. The case has been making headlines due to the defendant's suspected involvement in the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese holiday resort. However, it's important to note that it's not the focus of the current proceedings, and he's presumed innocent.
A BKA officer, who was involved in various aspects of the investigation, provided his testimony. He mentioned two allegedly raped victims who claimed to have seen the defendant in films. Both witnesses identified him as the perpetrator in the videos. However, the location of the videos is uncertain, and the victims still have not been identified.
There are differences between the testimonies of the two witnesses. The defense questioned the lack of provocative questions aimed at resolving these discrepancies.
For example, the estimated ages of the witnesses for one of the victims are widely different. Moreover, there was uncertainty about whether the woman in the video spoke Italian or English more fluently. In response to the judge's inquiries, the investigator admitted that he hadn't investigated this further.
Criticism was also levelled at the interrogation of a witness who claimed to have recognized the defendant as the culprit in a sexual assault case on a Portuguese beach in 2007. Since some questions did not appear in the protocol where they were expected, the judge asked if the witness thought her interrogation had been appropriately recorded.
The defense also expressed dissatisfaction with the selection of the defendant's photos presented to the woman who said he was the assailant. Additionally, they were astonished that he was informed as to which picture was of him later on.
The trial will resume again on June 25th, following a prolonged break.
