The main suspect behind the disappearance of Madeleine McCann exposed himself to a 10-year-old girl on a beach before sexually assaulting her, a court was told.
Christian Brueckner reportedly "lay in wait" completely naked before appearing from behind a rock.
The court heard that the 47-year-old asked the schoolgirl her name and then grabbed her wrist in the resort of Salema just weeks before McCann vanished.
The now 27-year-old woman is alleged to have been Brueckner’s first victim.
Christian Brueckner is suspected of abducting the missing British toddler Madeleine McCannGettyThe girl had been visiting her family’s holiday flat when the attack happened, Braunschweig regional court was told.
According to prosecutors, after grabbing the 10-year-old's wrist, the convicted German rapist then said "look here" and performed a sex act while grinning.
The court heard that the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was left crying and "distressed".
She said: "The man came, he climbed down from the rock, and he asked me what I was called. I said my name and then he grabbed my hands."
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The main suspect behind the disappearance of Madeleine McCann exposed himself to a 10-year-old girl on a beach before sexually assaulting her, a court was told
PAAt the time of the attack, her family contacted police and the girl helped detectives draw up an E-fit.
Police contacted her in 2019 to inform her that they may have found a suspect.
She picked Brueckner out of "six or seven" images shown to her, but told the court that she was only initially 50 per cent sure that he was her attacker.
However, after carrying out her own "research" she said she was sure it was the man who carried out the sexual assault.
At the time of the attack, her family contacted police and the girl helped detectives draw up an E-fit
REUTERSShe told the court that the "grinning" man had recognisable birthmarks - similar to those Brueckner had reportedly tried to remove from his left thigh after an alleged rape.
The woman said: "I remember a few large birthmarks distributed over the body, on the back and on the legs. Just spread over, not one place but many across his back, it was just the birthmarks which I noticed, and this grinning."
However, Brueckner’s legal team criticised the evidence and said the woman had "coupled together" her research with her memories.
The 47-year-old is on trial for a series of sex offences - unrelated to McCann - in the Algarve between 2000 and 2017.
The trial continues.
