Man with a knife appeared in my hotel room, woman tells trial of Madeleine McCann suspect
Christian B, who is using his right to remain silent, is accused of three counts of rape and two of sexual abuse in his ongoing trial Braunschweig.
Wednesday 15 May 2024 13:45, UK
A woman who has accused the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann of rape has described being attacked in her hotel room by a man holding a knife.
In emotional testimony on Wednesday, a woman recounted how a man dressed in black allegedly appeared in her hotel room in Portugal and raped her.
Christian B - whose surname cannot be published due to privacy laws in Germany - is accused of attacking the woman.
He also faces two other counts of rape and two of sexual abuse in his ongoing trial in Braunschweig.
The allegations do not relate to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Speaking in court, the woman described the moment she realised there was a man she did not recognise in her hotel room in the middle of the night.
"I felt a fear that I had never feared before, all the blood drained from my head," she said.
"I turned to see who called my name, saw a man dressed fully in black, with a knife."
She had been staying in Praia la Rocha, just along the Portuguese coast from Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared from three years later.
During the woman's testimony, Christian B sat motionless next to his lawyer, staring straight ahead.
The woman described being raped by her attacker who then left her tied up, before escaping out via the balcony.
The police were called and she was taken to hospital by ambulance.
"Only occasionally did they (the police) quickly ask something in English. They didn’t pay much attention to me. I was not in a good headspace," she told the trial.
In the years that followed she described experiencing "20-30 panic attacks a day" and being unable to leave her house.
"I still have panic attacks today. It has become part of my life."
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
Read more:
Madeleine's parents mark 17 years since disappearance
Witness in Madeleine investigation 'dying from cancer'
Other charges facing Christian B include:
- Beating and sexually assaulting a girl aged at least 14 sometime between December 2000 and April 2006 at his house in Praia da Luz, Portugal
- Exposing himself to a 10-year-old German girl at a beach in Salema in the district of Faro in Portugal on 7 April 2007
- Exposing himself to an 11-year-old Portuguese girl at a playground in Bartolomeu de Messines in Portugal on 11 June 2017
Earlier in the trial, Christian B's lawyer said the defendant "is using his right to remain silent".
There are no formal pleas in the German legal system, and defendants are not obliged to respond to the charges.
Christian B is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old in Praia da Luz, the same town where Madeleine disappeared.