A man accused of kidnapping, drugging and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl said his intention was to keep her “safe” and “get her back with her parents”, a court has heard.
American pilot Robert Prussak approached the girl in London after she became separated from her family during a trip from France on April 22 this year, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
She was standing outside department store Harrods, in Knightsbridge, and it is alleged that Prussak walked the girl to his flat, gave her bitter-tasting water, and that she felt tired after drinking it.
The 57-year-old, of no fixed address, then allegedly took her to a nearby park where he sexually assaulted her.
On Friday, Prussak told the court he was walking past Harrods when he saw the girl, and thought she might need help as she appeared to be “looking around, searching”.
He told the jury: “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.
“I was reluctant to get involved.”
Prussak spoke to the girl and she answered in another language so he started communicating with her using the Google Translate app, he said.
He said he asked if her family was going shopping “to see if we could rush in there (Harrods), her answer was no, and then I said, ‘well then, where were you going?’ She wrote down something in translation, muse”.
Prussak said he came to understand that meant “museum”, but added she did not know which one.
Asked why he did not stay with the girl outside Harrods, he said: “In honesty, knowing everything I know now, that they were inside Harrods, staying there or going inside would’ve been the best solution.”
Prussak said he started walking with the girl towards a museum to “hopefully intercept the parents” and searched on his phone for police stations and “surprisingly they were fairly far”.
He said his intention was “to get her back with her parents”.
The accused said his goal was “keeping on track to a museum and keeping her safe and comfortable”.
Asked why they did not go to the museum, he said it started to rain more heavily and they had not seen the girl’s parents. He said his apartment was “very close by” and he knew “how to get there quickly”.
He said he “absolutely regrets” not calling the police sooner. And he did not call as he did not know “what response I would get” and was afraid “they’d send the cavalry and ambulance and everything”.
Prussak decided to take the girl back to his apartment and said he searched for emergency services online, then offered her water and she drank two glasses, one from the kitchen tap and one from a bottle.
He said through the translation, the girl used the word “bite”, and a few discussions later he “figured” she meant “bitter”, then tested his own water from the same bottle and said it tasted “normal”.
Catherine Donnelly, defending, put to him the allegation that he put Benadryl in the water, and asked him if he did that, he responded “no”.
She asked: “The allegation is you did that to put her to sleep or stupefy her or something of that nature, did you do that?”
Prussak responded: “No.”
He was asked if he was aware how long they had been at his apartment. He said after he left he thought it was “about an hour”, but later found out it was two hours, which “surprised” him.
Prussak told the jury he left the flat with the girl with the intention of finding a fire station and missed a turn so his app directed him through a park.
He said he asked two people in the park if they had seen any police and at one point sat on a bench as he “wasn’t certain we were on a good path to where we needed to go”.
The girl was looking “a little tired and frazzled” and he said he kept an eye on her to make sure she was nearby as he got up to leave, motioned to her “let’s go”, then said to her “I’m sorry it’s taking so long, we’re almost there” and “gently grabbed the left side of her face”.
Put to him by Ms Donnelly that the allegation is he took her to a wooded area, or a more private area, and touched her on her stomach under her clothing, Prussak said “I never touched her in any way other than what I’ve described”, adding “there are no hidden private areas, there were people everywhere”.
Ms Donnelly said another allegation is he pulled the front of her jeans to look inside and the third is he kissed her on both cheeks and on the lips and he replied to both allegations, “I did not do that”.
Nneka Akudolu KC, prosecuting, asked Prussak if he is sexually attracted to children, and he replied “no”.
Ms Akudolu put to him that he took the girl from Harrods to sexually assault her, and he replied “that’s not the case”.
The court previously heard the girl was taken to hospital, where she was reunited with her family, and a urine sample was collected from her.
The sample contained diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, an antihistamine which typically causes drowsiness, the court heard.
Ms Akudolu, reading out agreed facts on Friday, said glasses that contained a clear liquid were seized from the kitchen and the liquid was tested for Benadryl, and the results were all negative.
Prussak denies 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.
