Hazel Behan gave evidence in court in Germany against Christian Brückner, chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance. Photograph RTÉMullingar woman Hazel Behan has told a German court she will “never forget” the blue eyes of Christian Brückner, whom she accuses of leaving her with lasting injuries after an attack in June 2004 in Portugal.
A student’s experience of renting outside Ireland: My landlord in the Netherlands said ‘I could stay forever’In four hours of tense testimony, Ms Behan recalled working as a 20 year-old holiday rep in the Clube Praia da Rocha resort in June 2004 when she was raped in her ground floor room by a black-clad, masked man. Throughout the rape, she told the court, the only part of the person she could see were his eyes.
She said he gestured with a knife, stuffed a cloth into her mouth and told her: “If you scream I’ll kill you.” When she was six months pregnant, she said he packed her bags and left her “in the middle of the street”. She became aware of Brückner in June 2020 when her brother sent her a link to a story about how he admitted raping another women in Portugal in 2005.Questioned about why she went public with her story, Ms Behan said she was inspired by hearing someone else talk on Irish radio about turning a different, difficult experience into something positive.