Father ‘feared daughter was abducted after she vanished outside Harrods’

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The father of a nine-year-old girl allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted by an American pilot after she lost her parents outside Harrods in London feared she had been abducted, a court heard.

Isleworth Crown Court heard that American pilot Robert Prussak, 57, approached the girl outside the department store, who became separated from her family during a trip to London from France, on 22 April last year.

Prussak stopped to speak with the girl before walking away with her to his apartment, where he spent almost two hours inside before leaving and walking through central London again, the court heard.

He was then arrested outside the Israeli embassy in west London, with footage showing him being approached by police as he was separated from the girl.

Speaking to the court, the girl’s father said he was approached by a police officer who showed him a photo of his daughter walking away with a man he did not recognise.

The girl, 9, was allegedly approached by Prussak outside Harrods department store (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

“At first, when the minutes were passing by, I thought she was lost, but when I saw the picture of the man I thought she could have been abducted,” he said.

He said he had spent the day travelling around London with his wife and three children, visiting Buckingham Palace.

They were on their way to a museum when they decided to stop at Harrods, before realising his daughter was not with them when they entered the department store.

“We started panicking,” he said, before approaching a member of staff who spoke to security. The staff checked the CCTV while his wife went back outside Harrods and retraced their steps.

The girl’s mother also described the moment police showed her the photo of her daughter walking away with a strange man.

Robert Prussak appeared at Isleworth Crown Court earlier this week (PA Archive)

“I was out of words, I could not believe it. It was very stressful, we were in the lounges of Harrods upstairs. I was very stressed, but I tried to keep calm for the children,” she said.

The girl was also cross-examined by Catherine Donnelly, defending, on Tuesday. She said she was not crying, but she was sad, when she became separated from her parents.

Ms Donnelly also asked her about her evidence that she began to feel tired after drinking “strange” tasting water given to her by Prussak in his flat.

The girl said she did not think that water in the UK tasted different from water in France. She also said that while she did not feel anything “just right after” drinking the water, “a little bit after” she felt tired.

Ms Donnelly asked her if she took any medicine while she was in Prussak’s flat, or earlier in the day. She said she had not.

Prussak is accused of kidnapping, drugging and sexually assaulting her, and denies all the charges against him. These include three counts of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.

He also denies one count of kidnapping, one count of committing an offence of kidnapping with an intent to commit a sexual offence, and one count of administering a substance with intent. The trial continues.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/robert-prussak-harrods-sexual-assault-trial-b2633825.html