Kampusch Kidnap Case Reopened

"Dear journalists, reporters, and people of the world,

"I realised quite early what a strong impression the news of my captivity has made on people, but I ask for understanding in satisfying the tremendous interest of the public. I realise how shocking and worrying the thoughts about my time in my prison must be, and that something like this could even be possible. I also realise there is a certain amount of curiosity and a desire to know more about the circumstances in which I lived.

"But at the same time I want to make it clear that I don't want to answer any details about intimate personal matters, and am prepared to take steps to ensure this interest does not get out of control.

"My personal space: my room was equipped with everything I would need and I made it my home, and it was not meant to be shown to the public.

My daily life: this was carefully regulated, mostly it started with a joint breakfast - he was anyway not working most of the time. There was housework, reading, television, talking, cooking. That's all there was, year in and year out, and always tied in with the fear of being lonely

On my relationship: he was not my master. I was just as strong as him, but he would, symbolically speaking, sometimes be my support and sometimes be the person who kicked me. But with me he had picked the wrong person, and we both knew that.

"He did the kidnapping alone and prepared everything in advance. After that we furnished the room together, and it was not 1.6 m high. I also did not cry after I made my escape. It was no reason to cry.

"In my eyes, his death was not necessary. It would not be the end of the world if he had simply been given a prison sentence. He has been a big part of my life, and as a result I do feel I am in a sort of mourning for him. It is true that my youth was different to the youth of others, but in principle I don't feel I missed anything. On the contrary, there are certain things I avoided, having nothing to do with smoking or drinking to start off with, and I didn't meet the wrong friends.

"Message to the media: the one thing I would appeal for from the press is a stop to the insulting reports, the misinterpretations of reality, the commentaries that claim to know better and the lack of respect for me.

At the moment I feel very well in the place where I'm staying, although perhaps I feel a little bit too much controlled. I am the one who has decided only to have telephone contact with my family. I'm also one who will decide when I want to have contact with journalists.

"On my escape: it happened as I was cleaning the car in the garden and saw that he had walked away during the vacuum cleaning. That was my chance, I dropped the vacuum cleaner and left it running.

"I also want to stress I never called him master although he demanded it. I think that's what he wanted, to be named like that, but he never meant it really.

"I have a lawyer that discusses the law with me. The youth lawyer Monica Pintertis has my trust together with Dr Friedrich and Dr Berger (both top Austrian youth psychiatrists) with whom I feel I can speak. The investigations team led by Mr Fruhstuck were very good to me, and I greet them warmly, although they were a bit too curious, but that is after all their job.

"Intimate questions: everybody wants to ask intimate questions, but these have nothing to do with anybody else. It may be that one day I speak to my therapist about it and maybe not. At the end of the day the private life is mine alone.

"Mr H [a friend of her kidnapper] should not feel guilty, it was Wolfgang's own decision to throw himself in front of a train. I also feel sympathy for the mother of Wolfgang. I can put myself in her position and I feel with her and have understanding. I and we both are thinking of him. I want to thank all the people who've taken part in my fate. But please let me have some peace in the immediate future. I hope that Dr Friedrich will be able to use this letter to make that clear. There are many people caring for me now. Please let me have time until I feel I can talk for myself.

Ambersuz wrote:From the Times Online August 28th 2006, this is a translation of an open letter from Natascha Kampusch:

"Dear journalists, reporters, and people of the world,

"I realised quite early what a strong impression the news of my captivity has made on people, but I ask for understanding in satisfying the tremendous interest of the public. I realise how shocking and worrying the thoughts about my time in my prison must be, and that something like this could even be possible. I also realise there is a certain amount of curiosity and a desire to know more about the circumstances in which I lived.

"But at the same time I want to make it clear that I don't want to answer any details about intimate personal matters, and am prepared to take steps to ensure this interest does not get out of control.

"My personal space: my room was equipped with everything I would need and I made it my home, and it was not meant to be shown to the public.

My daily life: this was carefully regulated, mostly it started with a joint breakfast - he was anyway not working most of the time. There was housework, reading, television, talking, cooking. That's all there was, year in and year out, and always tied in with the fear of being lonely

On my relationship: he was not my master. I was just as strong as him, but he would, symbolically speaking, sometimes be my support and sometimes be the person who kicked me. But with me he had picked the wrong person, and we both knew that.

"He did the kidnapping alone and prepared everything in advance. After that we furnished the room together, and it was not 1.6 m high. I also did not cry after I made my escape. It was no reason to cry.

"In my eyes, his death was not necessary. It would not be the end of the world if he had simply been given a prison sentence. He has been a big part of my life, and as a result I do feel I am in a sort of mourning for him. It is true that my youth was different to the youth of others, but in principle I don't feel I missed anything. On the contrary, there are certain things I avoided, having nothing to do with smoking or drinking to start off with, and I didn't meet the wrong friends.

"Message to the media: the one thing I would appeal for from the press is a stop to the insulting reports, the misinterpretations of reality, the commentaries that claim to know better and the lack of respect for me.

At the moment I feel very well in the place where I'm staying, although perhaps I feel a little bit too much controlled. I am the one who has decided only to have telephone contact with my family. I'm also one who will decide when I want to have contact with journalists.

"On my escape: it happened as I was cleaning the car in the garden and saw that he had walked away during the vacuum cleaning. That was my chance, I dropped the vacuum cleaner and left it running.

"I also want to stress I never called him master although he demanded it. I think that's what he wanted, to be named like that, but he never meant it really.

"I have a lawyer that discusses the law with me. The youth lawyer Monica Pintertis has my trust together with Dr Friedrich and Dr Berger (both top Austrian youth psychiatrists) with whom I feel I can speak. The investigations team led by Mr Fruhstuck were very good to me, and I greet them warmly, although they were a bit too curious, but that is after all their job.

"Intimate questions: everybody wants to ask intimate questions, but these have nothing to do with anybody else. It may be that one day I speak to my therapist about it and maybe not. At the end of the day the private life is mine alone.

"Mr H [a friend of her kidnapper] should not feel guilty, it was Wolfgang's own decision to throw himself in front of a train. I also feel sympathy for the mother of Wolfgang. I can put myself in her position and I feel with her and have understanding. I and we both are thinking of him. I want to thank all the people who've taken part in my fate. But please let me have some peace in the immediate future. I hope that Dr Friedrich will be able to use this letter to make that clear. There are many people caring for me now. Please let me have time until I feel I can talk for myself.

Ambersuz wrote:Police in Austria have reopened the investigation into the kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch after a witness claimed there were two people involved

A 12-year-old girl said she saw the abduction in 1998 - and that there were two perpetrators.

Justice Ministry spokeswoman Maria Berger confirmed that authorities are treating the information seriously.

Ms Kampusch was walking to school when she was snatched from a street in Vienna at the age of 10.

She was held captive in a cell under a house outside the city until she escaped eight years later in August 2006.

Her captor Wolfgang Priklopil committed suicide by throwing himself under a train on the night she fled.

Ms Kampusch, now 20, is working as a talk show host on Austrian TV.

The new line of inquiry is based on evidence given to an interior ministry commission set up after the Josef Fritzl case.

He has confessed to holding his daughter Elisabeth captive in a cellar for 24 years and sexually abusing her, according to police.

He fathered seven children with her, three of whom spent their entire lives in the dungeon until they were set free in April.

Fritzl could face manslaughter charges over the death of one of the children, an offence which carries a life sentence under Austrian law.

If convicted of sequestration and rape, he faces 15 years behind bars.



There's something very odd about this breaking news!

poinksy wrote:

Ambersuz wrote:Police in Austria have reopened the investigation into the kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch after a witness claimed there were two people involved

A 12-year-old girl said she saw the abduction in 1998 - and that there were two perpetrators.

Justice Ministry spokeswoman Maria Berger confirmed that authorities are treating the information seriously.

Ms Kampusch was walking to school when she was snatched from a street in Vienna at the age of 10.

She was held captive in a cell under a house outside the city until she escaped eight years later in August 2006.

Her captor Wolfgang Priklopil committed suicide by throwing himself under a train on the night she fled.

Ms Kampusch, now 20, is working as a talk show host on Austrian TV.

The new line of inquiry is based on evidence given to an interior ministry commission set up after the Josef Fritzl case.

He has confessed to holding his daughter Elisabeth captive in a cellar for 24 years and sexually abusing her, according to police.

He fathered seven children with her, three of whom spent their entire lives in the dungeon until they were set free in April.

Fritzl could face manslaughter charges over the death of one of the children, an offence which carries a life sentence under Austrian law.

If convicted of sequestration and rape, he faces 15 years behind bars.



There's something very odd about this breaking news!

I bet it was her mother.

justagrannynow wrote:I think so. There was some suggestion at the time that the mother had been involved in her daughters abduction and imprisonment, and this is why Natascha is reluctant to have anything to do with her mother.

justagrannynow wrote:The Independent

Kampusch defends mother from kidnap plot claims

By Laura Amaral in Graz
Friday, 16 May 2008


Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian kidnap victim, appeared in court yesterday to deny claims that her mother had masterminded her abduction to cover up a catalogue of sexual abuse.


Ms Kampusch told a defamation hearing in Graz that she had never been molested by Brigitte Sirny prior to the day she was abducted on the way to school in 1998.

Her evidence came in reply to allegations that Mrs Sirny, who was estranged from Ms Kampusch's father, had "hatched a plot to kidnap Natascha" with Wolfgang Prikopil, the man who held her in a dungeon at his home for more than eight years.

Ms Kampusch was called to give evidence at a civil case bought by Martin Wabl, a retired judge who has – for years – claimed Mrs Sirny was involved in her daughter's disappearance. Mr Wabl is attempting to erase a criminal record he received in 2000 when Mrs Sirny successfully gained an injunction against him for making the claims.

In his own evidence yesterday, Mr Wabl, a former family and domestic disputes judge, told the court that he had first become suspicious of Mrs Sirny in the immediate aftermath of Natascha's disappearance, when she was 10.

"I contacted her early on, and something never felt right about her," he said. "I have dealt with numerous disappeared and abused children, but I never met a mother who gave up hope for her daughter so quickly. She was unique."

"I began looking into things, and I reported her to police to say that they should be concentrating on the family. Everything I found out, all the people I spoke to, led me to believe she was implicated in the kidnapping."With the eyes of the world still on Austria after the Amstetten incest case, the courtroom was cleared of press and public for the 30 minutes of Ms Kampusch's testimony because of the sexual nature of the evidence. Afterwards, Judge Juergen Schweiger only said that she had denied sexual abuse at home when growing up.

Later, Ms Kampusch's father Ludwig Koch told the court that he "didn't know" if his child had ever been sexually abused by his former wife, from who he had separated by the time of Ms Kampusch's kidnapping.

"I do not know for sure if she was involved in the kidnapping," Mr Koch said. "I want to have clarity over whether or not the mother of my child was involved in the whole thing."

Debate has always surrounded Ms Kampusch's relationship with her mother. During the original investigation into her disappearance, Mrs Sirny was for a time a police suspect, after photographs were uncovered that showed her daughter displaying her private parts, wearing lipstick and brandishing a whip, were discovered at her home and published in a Viennese newspaper.

Mrs Sirny dismissed the photographs, saying they were "harmless horseplay". But at the time, an eminent psychiatrist declared them to be "highly sexually charged and taken for the sexual delectation of the person behind the camera". The police eventually dropped Mrs Sirny as a suspect and no charges were ever brought against her.
Yesterday's allegations came the day after it emerged that Ms Kampusch – who still carries a photograph of Prikopil in her handbag – admitted in a magazine interview that she has bought the house near Vienna where she was held for almost eight years to protect it from vandals and keep it from being torn down to build new homes.

"I know it is grotesque. I now have to pay electricity, water and taxes on a house that I never wanted to live in," she said.

Copyright 2008 Independent News and Media Limited