Suspect in the Maddie case Expert sees Christian B. in the "top league of dangerousness"

The trial against the suspect in the Maddie case is drawing to a close. A psychiatric expert comes to a clear assessment of the accused - but also makes some reservations.

DPA

27.09.2024, 23:00

dpa

According to a psychiatric expert, Christian B., the suspect in the Maddie case, is in the "absolute top league of dangerousness". The application of various procedures leads to the conclusion that the 47-year-old German is in the top league of dangerousness, said the doctor in Braunschweig Regional Court. In his presentation, the psychiatrist emphasized that he could only make a suspected diagnosis because the accused had not been willing to meet and talk with him.

The sex offender, who has several previous convictions, is accused of three rapes and two cases of sexual abuse of children, which he allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The trial is attracting a great deal of attention primarily because the defendant is suspected of murder in the case of three-year-old Madeleine "Maddie" McCann, who disappeared from a Portuguese vacation resort in 2007. However, the Maddie case is not the subject of the current proceedings. The presumption of innocence applies.

Not a favorable prognosis

B. is currently serving a prison sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal, to which he was sentenced by the Braunschweig Regional Court in 2019. However, he could have served this sentence next year. The probability that B. would then be imprisoned again in the next two years is 30 to 50 percent, the expert said. According to established analysis procedures, almost 100 percent of comparable sex offenders have more favorable prognoses than the defendant.

In the event that the court sentences the defendant, the expert recommends that he be placed in preventive detention after his imprisonment because almost all the criteria for this are met. Among other things, the doctor referred to the convictions of Christian B, who had demonstrably abused children as a teenager. As the psychiatrist said, the accused was more involved with illegal than legal things in his life. The doctor did not even want to quote from texts attributed to him in court. For him, what he had read in them was one of the greatest abominations he knew.

Staff described as torturers

Without having spoken to the defendant himself, the expert witness could only rely on the main hearing in the Braunschweig courtroom and the prisoner personnel file. This revealed arrogant, cynical, rude behavior that had also led to four disciplinary proceedings. According to the file entries, Christian B. considers himself innocent and assumes that he will be compensated. He is said to have threatened to "finish off this prison". He is said to have described staff at the facility as torturers.

With the expert's report, the proceedings are entering the home straight. Next Wednesday, another hearing is scheduled for decisions on applications, for example. "From the chamber's point of view, however, we have had all the witnesses," said the judge. If there are no surprises, the hearing of evidence is about to be concluded. Pleadings would be possible in the second week of October.

The 47-year-old's defence lawyers have emphasized several times during the trial that, in their view, the accused will be acquitted of all charges.