A man accused of kidnapping, drugging and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl claimed his goal was to keep her “safe”.
Robert Prussak denied putting Benadryl in the drink of a girl he had approached outside Harrods – after she had become separated from her family during a trip to London, from France, on 22 April this year, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
The American pilot allegedly walked the girl to his flat and gave her bitter-tasting water.
She felt tired after drinking it and the 57-year-old took her to a nearby park where he sexually assaulted her, the court heard.
Speaking on Friday, Prussak said he was on his way to Buckingham Palace when he saw the girl.
He thought she was “waiting for somebody” and that she might need help, the court was told.
Prussak 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.”
He spoke to the girl and she replied in another language, so they began using a translation app to communicate, he said.
Prussak asked her if her parents were going shopping and she wrote down something that translated as “muse”, he added.
He claimed he came to understand that as “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.”
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Instead, the defendant began walking her towards a museum, he claimed, to “hopefully intercept the parents” and searched for nearby police stations but “surprisingly they were fairly far”.
Prussak claimed his intention was “to get her back with her parents” and keep her “safe and comfortable”.
But when explaining why he then decided not to go to the museum, Prussak claimed it had begun raining heavily, and his apartment was “very close by”.
Prussak now said he “absolutely regrets” not calling the police sooner, but claimed he did not do so because he was unsure “what response I would get”.
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Taking her back to his apartment, the girl drank two glasses of water, one from the kitchen tap and one from a bottle, the jury heard.
Through translation, she said it tasted bitter, he said, but when he tasted it, he claimed it was fine.
Catherine Donnelly, defending, asked him if he had drugged the water and he said: “No”.
She then 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 said: “No.”
The court previously heard the girl was later taken to hospital where she was reunited with her family and a urine sample was collected from her.
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From this, they found the active ingredient for Benadryl, an antihistamine which can cause drowsiness, the court heard.
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.
