A former tour guide 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 spoke publicly about the alleged attack in television interviews, broke down in tears as she relived the horrific moment.
Convicted rapist and pedophile Christian Brueckner, 47, is currently on trial accused of raping three women and carrying out indecent assaults on children not far from where Madeleine disappeared in May 2007.
Speaking through an interpreter, Behan said she had returned to her apartment in Praia da Roche, Portugal, in June 2004, after a fight with her then-boyfriend Jason Coates when she was just 20 years old.
Hazel told the court in Braunschweig, Germany, that she had been to an Irish bar in the Praia da Roche resort but then returned home alone after the argument.
Hazel Behan, 40 (pictured), who waived her anonymity and spoke publicly about the alleged attack in television interviews, broke down in tears as she relived the horrific moment.
Convicted rapist and pedophile Christian Brueckner (pictured), 47, is currently on trial accused of raping three women and carrying out indecent assaults on children.
She described how she got into bed fully dressed and then fell asleep, only to wake up moments later when she heard her name being called.
Mrs Behan said: “I thought it was my boyfriend who had come to apologise.” After a short amount of time I said in my head, “He doesn’t have a key, so how did he get in?”
‘I had such fear that I had never experienced and I felt as if 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 and the first thing he did was put his knee on my back and put his hand over my mouth.
He pulled my head and said in English, “Don’t scream or I’ll kill you,” so I didn’t do it. It was all very fast.
“He pulled my hair and then positioned my body so he was behind me, took off my pants and underwear and I tried to turn around.
Ms Behan was raped in an apartment in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, in 2004 (the exterior of the building is pictured)
Ms Behan detailed how the attacker threatened to kill her before fleeing down the balcony after the attack (pictured is the outside view of the apartment’s windows from the road).
But he pulled my head back and said in English “Don’t look at me” and then I smelled a fruity smell. “I knew they were condoms, so I knew it was going to happen.”
Using a tissue to wipe away 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.’
‘Then I said I was pregnant; I don’t know why I said she was pregnant. I guess I thought that maybe she wouldn’t approach a pregnant woman.
‘But I wasn’t pregnant at all. It didn’t work and then she grabbed me by the hair and with the force of the train entered my body.’
Mrs Behan, from Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, added: “I have had three children but I have never felt pain like that and it felt like 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 at the trial that she was terrified she would be “decapitated” after she was forced to kneel on the floor with her head resting on a bench while Brueckner covered her with a sheet.
Ms Behan, 20, was working as a holiday representative when the attack occurred at the apartment block (the signposted entrance to the block is pictured).
The attacker entered Ms Behan’s room while she was sleeping and held a knife to her throat before carrying out the attack (interior view of the apartment block pictured).
Behan, who waived his right to anonymity last month, revealed details of the attack in which a masked man climbed onto the balcony of his apartment in the early hours of the morning (exterior view of apartment balconies pictured).
“At that moment I thought he was going to cut off my head.”
‘Although the sheet covered me, there was still a small gap between the end of the sheet and the floor, and I could see underneath.
‘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 rummaging and I saw that he was with his backpack and I could see both of his feet, he had no shoes and I could see that the balcony door was open.
“He went out 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 got out from under the sheet.
Brueckner was sensationally named by German police as the main suspect in Madeleine’s kidnapping in Praia da Luz 17 years ago, in June 2020.
But he has not been charged and the crimes he is currently being tried for are unrelated.
The trial continues.