Madeleine McCann Abduction Suspect Christian Brueckner's Rape Victim Breaks Silence After He Was Cleared of Sex Offenses: 'I’m Shattered and Broken'
Hazel Behan has been left heartbroken after Christian Brueckner was found not guilty of rape and sexual abuse charges stemming from a 2004 incident.
Oct. 10 2024, Published 5:06 p.m. ET
Madeline McCann suspect Christian Brueckner's rape victim has expressed her disbelief and horror after he was cleared of s-- offenses.
RadarOnline.com can reveal Hazel Behan's reaction after Brueckner was found not guilty of rape and sexual abuse charges.
Behan, 40, told ITV: “I’m shattered, I’m really, really broken.
“He had piercing blue eyes, oh they bore into my head, they’re there, they’re imprinted on who I am, they’ll never leave."
Hazel Behan expressed her disbelief at Christian Brueckner's charges being dropped.
She recalled: “Spend hours in a room with somebody who is absolutely torturing you, and all you can see is their eyes? By god you’d better believe I’ll remember them.
“I made sure I’d remember them. I see them every time I close my eyes.”
The attack occurred just two weeks before her 21st birthday in 2004, as Behan would call out her attacker on social media in 2023.
She shared: "I am not the lonely, unloved person you are. I am a mother. I am a wife. I am a daughter, sister and friend... I laugh, I run freely without limits. I am free. So who is the real winner?"
The incident occurred in the same Portuguese town of Praia da Luz where 3-year-old McCann had gone missing just 18 months earlier.
During her stunning testimony in a German court, Behan recalled the assault and accused Brueckner of the attack, and insisted: “I always said my attacker was a German with piercing blue eyes and a voice I would recognize immediately..."
Brueckner was charged with rape and sexual abuse charges following the incident in 2004.
Brueckner is set to be released from prison in 2025 following his sentence on a separate conviction. However, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters is still seeking to charge him for McCann's disappearance despite time not being on their side.
He said: "The only way to stop him leaving the country or going to a non-extradition country is to get an arrest warrant. We have less than one year now on the Maddie case — the clock is ticking."
Brueckner, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping an elderly American woman and drug trafficking, was named the number one suspect in the McCann disappearance in 2020.
In a letter written by Brueckner in 2022, he denied having anything to do with the famous case: "... They have not even one proof that I was involved with the McCann case. And they still don't have it."
Brueckner is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping an elderly woman, but may be released in 2025.
The 47-year-old also claimed there was "no proof" against him and accused the German authorities of leaking information to make him look like the bad guy.
McCann disappeared in 2007 while on a family vacation in Portugal.
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Brueckner is the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance case.
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