Austria: Rape survivor recounts 10 years of ordeal, stays in her captor's house

Vienna: After ten years of her escape, rape survivor Natascha Kampusch, opens up about the psychological and sexual abuse she was subjected to for eight and a half years at the hands of her captor Wolfgang Pirklopil.

Kampusch was abducted when she was 9-year-old and was on her way to school in March 1998. She was held captive in the cellar of a house by Pirklopil for eight and a half years and was beaten, starved and turned into a sex slave.
However, she managed to escape in August 2006 when she was 18-year-old.

Recalling the exact moments of her freedom, Kampusch said that Priklopil received a call and got distracted. “He has observed me all the time. But because of the vacuum cleaner whirring in my hand he had to walk a few steps away to talk to the caller. I crept to the gate which was usually closed or blocked by heavy objects, but not on that day.”

Kampusch ran out and knocked on the neighbour’s window, asking the woman for help, who called the police.

“I could hardly breathe. I felt solidified, as if my arms and legs were paralyzed. Jumbled images shot through me.”

Kampusch’s captor was hit by a train the same day she escaped and his house and car were given to Kampusch as compensation.

Kampusch, now 28, lives in the same house where she was held hostage in Strasshof, Vienna. She revealed that she spends her weekends in the very same house.

Kampusch is the author of a book called ‘Ten Years of Freedom’, which throws light on her past experiences.

Psychologists said it is time that she moves on from her past. However, Kampusch finds it difficult and has mentioned in her interviews that she remains socially awkward and confused.