Irish woman ‘raped by Christian Brueckner’ relives terrifying ordeal and tells his trial she lied she was pregnant to try and make him stop but ‘smelt his condoms and knew it was going to happen’

A former tour guide has told a court how she was raped at knifepoint by the man suspected of kidnapping Madeleine McCann.

Hazel Behan, 40, who waived her anonymity and has spoken publicly about the alleged attack in TV interviews, broke down in tears as she relived the horrific moment.

Convicted rapist and pedophile Christian Brueckner, 47, is currently on trial for raping three women and committing indecent attacks on children, not far from where Madeleine disappeared in May 2007.

Speaking through an interpreter, Ms Behan said she had returned to her flat in Praia da Roche, Portugal, in June 2004 after an argument with her then-boyfriend Jason Coates when she was just 20.

Hazel told the court in Braunschweig, Germany, that she had been to an Irish bar in the seaside resort of Praia da Roche but returned home alone after the argument.

Convicted rapist and pedophile Christian Brueckner (pictured), 47, is currently on trial for raping three women and committing child sexual assault.

She described getting into bed fully clothed and falling asleep, only to wake up moments later when she heard her name called.

Mrs Behan said: ‘I thought it was my friend coming to apologise. After a short while I said to myself, “He doesn’t have a key, so how did he get in?”

‘I had such fear that I have never experienced before and it felt like all the blood in my body was rushing to my feet.

‘I turned around and saw a man, dressed completely in black from head to toe, with a knife. The first thing he did was stick his knee in my back and put his hand over my mouth.

He pulled my head and said in English, “Don’t fucking scream or I will kill you,” so that’s why I didn’t do it. It all happened very quickly.

‘He pulled my hair and positioned my body so he was behind me, he took off my trousers and underwear and I tried to turn around.

Ms Behan was raped in an apartment in Praia da Rocha, Portugal in 2004 (exterior of building pictured)

Ms Behan explained how the attacker then threatened to kill her before fleeing across the balcony after the attack (exterior view of the apartment’s windows from the road shown)

‘But he pulled my head back and said in English ‘Don’t look at me’, and then I smelled a fruity smell. I knew it was condoms, so I knew it was going to happen.”

Using a tissue to wipe her tears, she continued: ‘I had a picture of my sister on the wall next to the bed and I said, ‘Please don’t hurt me, she’s my baby.’

‘I then said I was pregnant; I don’t know why I said I was pregnant. I guess I thought he might not go near a pregnant woman.

‘But I was definitely not pregnant. It didn’t work and then he held my hair and with the force of the train he entered my body.’

Mrs Behan, from Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, added: ‘I have had three children but I have never felt such pain and I felt it would last forever.

“And I knew that this person didn’t like me, and that this person was turned on by this power and this control.”

She added during the trial that she was terrified she would be ‘decapitated’ after being forced to kneel with her head on a sofa on the floor while Brueckner placed a sheet over her.

Mrs Behan was working as a holiday representative at the age of 20 when the attack on the apartment building occurred (the entrance to the apartment building is indicated in the photo)

The attacker entered Ms Behan’s room while she was sleeping and held a knife to her throat before carrying out the attack (inside view of the apartment block pictured)

Ms Behan, who waived her right to anonymity last month, revealed details of the attack which saw a masked man climb over the balcony into her apartment in the early hours of the morning (exterior view of the apartment’s balconies pictured)

“At that moment I thought he was going to cut off my head.”

‘Although the sheet covered me, there was still a short gap between the end of the sheet and the floor, and I could see under it.

‘When you’re in a situation like that, every sense you have is heightened, you listen and try to smell what’s happening.

‘I heard him walking around and saw that he was with his backpack and I could see his two feet, he had no shoes on and I saw that the balcony door was open.

‘He stepped onto the balcony and put on his shoes, but I was still too scared to move, so I waited and waited. When I realized he was gone, I came out from under the sheet.”

Brueckner was sensationally named by German police as the main suspect in the kidnapping of Madeleine from Praia da Luz 17 years ago in June 2020.

But he has not been charged and the crimes for which he is currently being tried are unrelated.

The process continues.