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Kampusch kidnapper's pal not guilty of complicity in suicide

A former close friend and business partner of Natascha Kampusch�s kidnapper has been found not guilty of complicity in suicide.

Viennese Criminal Court judge Minou Aigner said in today�s (Mon) trial there was no evidence Ernst Holzapfel helped Wolfgang Priklopil to hide from police on the day Kampusch fled from him after more than eight years of imprisonment.

The verdict is not legally binding yet as state prosecutor Hans-Peter Kronawetter did not make an official statement.

Holzapfel � who pleaded not guilty � explained Priklopil told him it was an "emergency" when he asked to meet him outside Vienna�s Donauzentrum mall on 23 August 2006.

"He was in a very bad state. He asked me to switch my mobile phones off after I got into his car so no one can track us," the Viennese businessman � who knew Priklopil for more than 20 years � said in court.

Holzapfel, further, said: "Priklopil declared himself an abductor and rapist. I was shocked and suddenly realised that the girl he once introduced to me as a kid from the neighbourhood but Natascha Kampusch."

Asked why he did not call police, Holzapfel stressed: "I knew everyone getting into Pirklopil�s way put their lives at risk. He was ready to use violence. It was clear to me I was endangered. I was in the same situation as Natascha Kampusch."

Holzapfel revealed he kept Priklopil from killing himself by steering his BMW sports car against a wall by telling him the vehicle "has too little horsepower to accelerate sufficiently for this kind of suicide".

The defendant stressed Priklopil had no plans to flee. "He had no money with him and did not make any arrangements," he said in court.

Holzapfel said Priklopil planned to write a note for his mother before he got out of his car after a five-hour ride, but only managed to scribble the word "Mama" (mum) on a sheet of paper.

Priklopil committed suicide by jumping in front of a train later the same day.

Kampusch�s father Ludwig Koch � who previously accused Holzapfel of having been involved in the kidnapping � said in a first reaction after hearing that Priklopil�s former best mate was found not guilty: "I�m not happy about this, of course, but he managed to get away so many times."

Weekly magazine News revealed recently Kampusch fled from Priklopil�s house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn, Lower Austria, over a "trivial argument" over how best to prepare a zucchini soup.

The magazine reported Holzapfel, 46, made this claim speaking to investigators earlier this year.

"Wolfgang told me that she dashed out of the house after a banal row over how to cook a soup," News quoted Holzapfel.

Secret police interview documents leaked by Greens MP Peter Pilz earlier this month show that Priklopil took Kampusch on at least 13 trips since snatching her from the road on her way to school in Vienna in March 1998.

Kampusch�s lawyer Gerald Ganzger is understood to have held talks with his client over pressing compensation claims against the Republic of Austria. Kampusch � who lives a secluded life in Vienna and rarely gives interviews these days � could be awarded up to half a million Euros, according to experts.

Meanwhile, Kampusch angered fans by announced well ahead of the presentation of her autobiography that she will not provide any autographs.

Michaela Bokon, manager of the Thalia bookstore in Vienna-Landstra�e where Kampusch will speak about "3,096 Tage" (3,096 Days) on 9 September, was informed by the 21-year-old that she would neither answer any questions posed by fans nor provide autographs.

Bokon added she decided to hire security personnel as hundreds were expected to turn up.

Kampusch � who bought her kidnapper�s house and BMW � has been living a secluded life in Vienna after her TV chat show "Natascha Kampusch trifft�" flopped on private channel Puls 4.

German Bernd Eichinger announced earlier this year he was cooperating with Kampusch about turning her life into a movie set for a 2012 release.

Austrian Times

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