A former US Air Force officer charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a lost nine-year-old girl he found outside the famed Harrods department store in London last spring has been acquitted in a shocking twist.
Robert Prussak, 57, broke down in tears as he was found not guilty of three counts of sexual assault of a child by the Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday, the Shropshire Star reported.
‘I did not touch [the girl] in the way she described. I’m not sure why she would say that,” Prussak told jurors, according to the Daily Mail.
The American military veteran and pilot was arrested on April 22, the same day that he allegedly approached a nine-year-old French girl who became separated from her family outside the high end shop, the outlet said.
According to the prosecution, Prussak took the girl back to his apartment and gave her bitter-tasting water.
Urine samples later taken at the hospital suggested that the girl may have ingested the antihistamine Benadryl, which can cause drowsiness.
However, when the cup was tested, it showed now trace of the drug, the court heard.
He then allegedly took the girl to Hyde Park and sexually assaulted her.
Meanwhile, the girl’s family and Harrods security scoured the area for the missing child — and eventually zeroed in on footage of her being led away by a man.
Metropolitan Police officers outside the Israeli Embassy spotted the pair and arrested Prussak.
At one point during deliberations, the jury asked if there was any DNA evidence of the alleged assault, the Star said.
The judge said that there was not.
In court on Friday, Prussak claimed that he was only trying to keep the girl safe, SkyNews reported.
“My mind went straight to my own daughters who are just a few years older than her and I thought if my daughters were lost in a big city, I wouldn’t want them stuck out alone,” he said of the moment he supposedly saw the girl standing alone while on his way to Buckingham Palace.
The pair used a translation app to communicate, he claimed.
Prussak said that he asked the girl where her parents were, and she said something that he assumed meant “museum” – though she apparently did not know which one her family was headed to.
He claimed that he then walked her in the direction of a museum “to hopefully intercept the parents,” SkyNews reported.
Prussak took the girl back to his apartment when it started to rain, he added.
He said he gave her water and let her watch TV while he tried to find a police station to take her to, according to the Daily Mail.
He denied ever sexually assaulting her.
In addition to the sex assault charges, Prussak was also cleared on one charge of kidnapping, one charge of committing a kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offense, and one count of administering a substance with intent.
Prussak, of California, spent about 17 years in the Air Force before leaving at the end of 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Recent Comments