Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Maddie link paedo in jail release bid
Pregnancy revealed as co-accused husband launches court bid for bail
THE prime suspect in the Madeleine Mccann case will today demand to be freed from jail despite being convicted of raping a 72-year-old woman.
Christian Brueckner’s lawyers want the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to overturn his seven-year sentence for attacking the American in Praia da Luz in 2005.
They claim it breached international law to try him for rape after he was extradited from Portugal over child abuse charges.
If judges rule in favour, they could ask Germany’s Federal Court of Justice to quash the conviction.
Phone data shows that Brueckner, 43, was in Praia da Luz in 2007 when Madeleine vanished days before her fourth birthday.
A WOMAN charged with murdering her five-year-old daughter is pregnant, a court heard yesterday.
Aleksandra Wahab, 26 – co-accused with 32-year-old husband Abdul – is due to have her third child next month.
The details emerged at Belfast’s High Court, where Abdul Wahab launched a bail application.
The pair are in custody following the death of Nadia Zofia Kalinowska at her Fernagh Drive home in Newtownabbey on December 15 last year.
The youngster suffered a fractured skull and injuries to her brain and liver.
The Crown claims as well as these injuries, Nadia also had historic injuries including fractured ribs.
Both her mother – originally from Poland – and her Pakistani-born stepfather have denied murder claiming the she fell down the stairs.
They also deny charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and causing or allowing the death of a child.
A prosecutor told the judge the Crown was opposing Abdul Wahab’s release, on grounds including a risk of flight, and rejected a defence suggestion the case against him was weak.
The bail application was made by defence barrister Patrick Lyttle, who branded concerns Wahab would be able to flee to his native Pakistan without his passport and other travel documents as “something from a Hollywood movie”.
Mr Lyttle said that having spent the past decade living in the UK and Ireland, Wahab was settled and had family ties here – including his three-year old son.
Denying his client had harmed his step-daughter, Mr Lyttle said the Wahab family has been “torn asunder”, that their three-year old son is now in care and his wife, who is also in custody, is due to give birth next month.
Mr Lyttle said if outstanding medical reports find the child did sustain the fatal injuries by falling down stairs, this will have been a “monstrous injustice” for the couple.
Mr Lyttle told the court before his arrest Wahab had been working as a driver for Uber Eats and lived legally in greater Belfast for over two years.
He said the family were so settled Nadia had attended a local primary school, where teachers described her as a happy, well-cared-for child.
Addressing Crown concerns Abdul Wahab would flee if released as “fanciful”, Mr Lyttle said he was not part of a criminal gang who could obtain a false passport. He added his client was a man without a criminal record who would stay in Northern Ireland for his family.
Urging Mr Justice Horner to grant bail, Mr Lyttle said his client is “languishing in prison” where he may remain for years because of delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Lyttle said Abdul Wahab would adhere to any conditions imposed, adding: “The fact that he comes from Pakistan is not a reason for refusing bail.”
But Crown barrister David Mcdowell spoke to the court of the level of family
HIGH COURT YESTERDAY
care regarding Nadia. He said her teeth were in an “appalling state”, there was no record of her having visited a doctor or dentist in Northern Ireland and there were no toys for girls in the house where she died.
Mr Mcdowell also spoke of historic injuries including fractures to her ribs which he said were relevant to the case. Opposing Abdul Wahab’s release, Mr Mcdowell added: “He has told police he wanted to move the family to Pakistan.” He said before moving to greater Belfast, Abdul Wahab had a “transient lifestyle” and in the days before the alleged murder he had searched online for flights to Pakistan.
The prosecutor addressed the couple’s son who is in care, and said a local couple who applied for kinship of the boy were contacted by Abdul Wahab’s mother in Pakistan who “threatened them with a curse if they continued their application.” Mr Mcdowell said there was “an obvious and real risk in this case of the defendant failing to attend his trial”. Mr Justice Horner said he would give his ruling tomorrow.