Rape Victim of Christian Brueckner Speaks Out After He Was Cleared of Charges: ‘I’m Shattered and Broken’

Hazel Behan, the victim of Christian Brueckner, has come forward to share her anguish after the abduction suspect was acquitted of rape and sexual assault charges related to a 2004 incident. The mother of two expressed her devastation upon hearing the news that Brueckner was found not guilty of the offenses that have haunted her for years.

“I’m utterly shattered, really broken,” Behan, now 40, told ITV, as she reflected on the traumatic experience. She vividly recalled Brueckner’s piercing blue eyes, which have become an indelible part of her memory. “The hours spent with someone who torments you are seared into my mind. I see his eyes every moment I shut my eyes,” she added.

The assault happened just two weeks before Behan’s 21st birthday in the same town of Praia da Luz where three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished 18 months earlier. In 2023, Behan used social media to confront her attacker, asserting: “I am not the lonely, unloved person you are. I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. I laugh, I run freely without limits. So who’s truly winning here?”

During her powerful testimony in a German court, Behan recounted the harrowing details of the attack and insisted that Brueckner was her assailant. “I’ve always described my attacker as a German man with piercing blue eyes and a voice I’d recognize anywhere,” she revealed.

Following the incident, Brueckner was charged with the rape and sexual assault of Behan but was recently cleared of these allegations. Meanwhile, he is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for unrelated crimes, including the rape of an elderly American woman and drug trafficking. He is expected to be released in 2025.

Despite his acquittal in the Behan case, authorities remain focused on Brueckner regarding the McCann disappearance. Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters mentioned the urgency of obtaining an arrest warrant due to the imminent expiration of the statute of limitations related to McCann’s case. “The clock is ticking,” he noted.

Brueckner, who has maintained his innocence regarding the McCann case, wrote in a letter last year that there is no evidence linking him to her disappearance. As the legal battles continue, the haunting memories and painful experiences of victims like Behan remain entrenched, highlighting the deep scars left by such traumatic events.