No strong suspicion in rape trial against Maddie suspect
In the indictment, Christian B. was accused of committing rapes in vacation homes and similar objects in Portugal against three women. In addition, the public prosecutor charged him with sexual abuse of two girls at a beach and a playground. All acts are said to have occurred between 2000 and 2017.
The representative of the public prosecutor described during the reading of the indictment in February that B. had acted brutally and violently during the three rapes and had, among other things, bound and beaten the victims. He had done this to "enjoy their pain and fear". He had also behaved "brutally and filled with hate".
At the request of the defense, the arrest warrant for the aforementioned offenses was now lifted by the court. The court said that the chamber denied a pressing suspicion "regarding all the accusations".
Despite the public prosecutor's charges against Christian B., none of the women accused in Portugal's vacation homes rape trial have come forward as victims. The public prosecutor's office continues to investigate suspects in the case of Maddie, the British girl who disappeared in Portugal in 2007, but Christian B. is not a suspect in that case. Although he was accused of rape trials in Brunswick, Germany, the suspicion of a crime in relation to Maddie or his actions in Portugal remain unproven. Rape trials against Christian B. in Brunswick resulted in convictions, but no such trial has been held in relation to the allegations in Portugal.
