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Beaten and abused in 8 years of torment
Source: Agencies |
September 9, 2010, Thursday
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AN Austrian woman kidnapped at the age of 10 says she was repeatedly beaten, starved and forced to do housework half-naked during more than eight years at the mercy of a man who considered himself an Egyptian god.
In a book about her ordeal, Natascha Kampusch also describes how her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, shaved off all her hair and shackled her to him on his bed once she turned 14.
Priklopil snatched Kampusch off a Vienna street on her way to school in 1998 and held her prisoner in a dungeon under his home until she fled in August 2006. He committed suicide within hours of her escape. The case made headlines around the world.
In "3,096 Days," Kampusch describes Priklopil as a paranoid, unpredictable and cleanliness-obsessed man who tormented her physically and verbally.
"In many respects, the kidnapper was a beast and more cruel than can possibly be depicted," Kampusch wrote. "Sometimes he beat me so long it felt like hours."
Priklopil found many ways to humiliate her, she said. "In the house I always had to work half-naked, and in the garden I was principally not allowed to wear any knickers. It was one of the ways to keep me down."
She describes how, as a teenager, she spent nights in Priklopil's bed with her wrists tied to his. "The man who beat me, locked me in the cellar and starved me, wanted to cuddle."
She also recalled the horror of having her hair shaved off because Priklopil considered every single strand a danger, potentially to be used by police to trace her.
The now 22-year-old was later allowed to grow out her hair but had to die it to conform to her captor's image of the ideal woman: "obedient, hardworking, blonde."
Kampusch describes how, in desperation, she tried to strangle herself several times using pieces of clothing and attempted to commit suicide by setting fire to paper in her underground cell. At the last minute, her "will to survive" resurfaced.
But there were moments when Kampusch stood up to the man who once told her he was an Egyptian god from the science fiction series "Stargate."
She refused to call him "maestro" or "my lord" and resisted kneeling in front of him. At 15, she said she even "punched" him in the stomach.
Kampusch attempts to explain why Priklopil kidnapped her, saying he wanted someone for whom he was "the most important person in the world."
Kampusch will officially present "3,096 Days" in the Austrian capital today.
In a book about her ordeal, Natascha Kampusch also describes how her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, shaved off all her hair and shackled her to him on his bed once she turned 14.
Priklopil snatched Kampusch off a Vienna street on her way to school in 1998 and held her prisoner in a dungeon under his home until she fled in August 2006. He committed suicide within hours of her escape. The case made headlines around the world.
In "3,096 Days," Kampusch describes Priklopil as a paranoid, unpredictable and cleanliness-obsessed man who tormented her physically and verbally.
"In many respects, the kidnapper was a beast and more cruel than can possibly be depicted," Kampusch wrote. "Sometimes he beat me so long it felt like hours."
Priklopil found many ways to humiliate her, she said. "In the house I always had to work half-naked, and in the garden I was principally not allowed to wear any knickers. It was one of the ways to keep me down."
She describes how, as a teenager, she spent nights in Priklopil's bed with her wrists tied to his. "The man who beat me, locked me in the cellar and starved me, wanted to cuddle."
She also recalled the horror of having her hair shaved off because Priklopil considered every single strand a danger, potentially to be used by police to trace her.
The now 22-year-old was later allowed to grow out her hair but had to die it to conform to her captor's image of the ideal woman: "obedient, hardworking, blonde."
Kampusch describes how, in desperation, she tried to strangle herself several times using pieces of clothing and attempted to commit suicide by setting fire to paper in her underground cell. At the last minute, her "will to survive" resurfaced.
But there were moments when Kampusch stood up to the man who once told her he was an Egyptian god from the science fiction series "Stargate."
She refused to call him "maestro" or "my lord" and resisted kneeling in front of him. At 15, she said she even "punched" him in the stomach.
Kampusch attempts to explain why Priklopil kidnapped her, saying he wanted someone for whom he was "the most important person in the world."
Kampusch will officially present "3,096 Days" in the Austrian capital today.
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