The infamous case of Madeleine McCann has an important update nearly 17 years after the 3-year-old's mysterious disappearance in May 2007.
Key witness Helge Busching is set to testify against Christian Brueckner next month after the prime suspect's lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, filed a claim at Brunswick court in Germany in an attempt to have Busching removed from the trial.
Brueckner, 45, is set to go on trial in February for the accused rape and sexual assault of several young women and a young girl between the years of 2000 and 2017.
During the 17-year time period, the previously convicted s-- offender — who is already in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman — was living on the Algarve coast in Portugal, where McCann vanished from her family's holiday villa more than a decade ago.
Busching has been deemed the "most important witness" in McCann's unsolved disappearance after previously admitting Brueckner mentioned it was "odd that she didn't scream" while the pair discussed her kidnapping roughly one year after she was last seen by her parents.
In 2020, Busching had been asked to share his thoughts about Brueckner, to which he replied: "One word. Guilty."
Now, Busching told a news publication ahead of his testimony: "At last the world can see that I am not a liar. I was speaking the truth."
"I know what I saw and heard and if I can be of help to this case and the McCann one then I am happy to help," he expressed. "Everyone can hear what I have to say when I give my evidence at his trial later this year. I am not telling lies despite what Herr Fulscher says."
In Brueckner's lawyer's complaint, Fulscher alleged Busching was a "fantasist" and "perjurer" in addition to pointing out apparent inconsistencies in the witness' statement to German police.
Hans-Christian Wolters of Brunswick prosecutor's office confirmed Brueckner's lawyer's claim was dismissed by a judge, stating to the news outlet, "Mr. Busching will give evidence at the trial next month."
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The trial is expected to last four months and is set to begin on February 16.
Busching previously played an important role in helping police name Brueckner as the prime suspect in McCann's disappearance in 2018 — more than a decade after she went missing.
The witness, who was also a friend of Brueckner, told law enforcement he had stolen a camcorder with alleged video tapes of the prime suspect sexually assaulting several women.
The footage helped put Brueckner behind bars for the rape of the 72-year-old female, which occurred just one year before McCann was taken from her vacation villa in the same town the forced intercourse went down.
Daily Mail spoke to Busching ahead of his testimony next month.
