Kidnap victim's father unsure of wife

AUSTRIA:THE FATHER of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch has said he "cannot say with 100 per cent certainty" that his former wife was not involved in her eight-year ordeal.

Brigitte Sirny, mother of Ms Kampusch, appeared in a Graz court yesterday in a defamation suit against Martin Wabl, a retired judge who accuses her of involvement in the disappearance of her then 10-year-old daughter on her way to school in 1998.

Ms Kampusch was kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil, who held her in a secret cellar beneath his house in a Vienna suburb until she escaped in 2006.

He committed suicide hours after the escape.

Mr Wabl has spent a decade investigating the case and claimed yesterday that Ms Sirny sexually abused her daughter and eventually sold her.

Ms Kampusch's father, Ludwig Koch, told the court yesterday of his doubts about his former wife.

Asked by presiding judge Jürgen Schweiger whether he had a concrete suspicion that his wife was involved in the kidnap, Mr Koch said: "I can't say, neither 100 per cent yes nor 100 per cent no."

The civil trial has been looming for eight years, since Mr Wabl first made his claims against Ms Sirny.

He said he became suspicious when, days after Natascha's disappearance, she told him she had given up hope of seeing her daughter again.

"A mother never gives up hope," said Mr Wabl.

Ms Kampusch was called to testify yesterday afternoon and, in a closed session, denied that she was ever sexually abused at home.

A former neighbour and employee in Ms Sirny's shop said yesterday she was sure that she saw Priklopil in the shop six months before the kidnapping.

"He looked at me in a nutty way," she said. "As soon as I saw the picture on television, I know it was Priklopil."