Authorities in Austria are under the microscope following explosive revelations about the kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch.
The story of the girl who endured eight years incarceration at the hands of an unbalanced communications technician stunned the world, making the now twenty year old victim the focus of extraordinary media attention.
The kidnapper, Wolf Priklopil, committed suicide the day that Miss Kampusch escaped, but lawyers are now claiming that the ordeal could have been brought to a swift conclusion had Vienna police acted on tip-offs ten years ago.
Mr Herwig Haidlinger, erstwhile head of the Austrian Federal Criminal Office, is claiming that the Interior Ministry covered up critical blunders in the investigation. He is touting evidence that Priklopil was identified as a suspect within eight weeks of the child's abduction. A police officer had tracked the notorious white van that had been spotted at the abduction site, and information had been collected about Mr Haidlinger's troubled character.
However, according to Mr Haidlinger, police did not follow up the lead. Miss Kampusch was to languish in a cell for eight and a half years.
This week, Miss Kampusch spoke in no uncertain terms to ABC News: "I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach, when I found out that they had tips and nothing had been done to follow up. I've lost quite a few years out of my life, important years, when I could have been free! I took it for granted that that police would be looking for me, using search dogs and following any leads after I had been kidnapped. I took it for granted they would come and find me. The people responsible must be taken to account." |