US Air Force captain is discovered not responsible of abducting nine-year-old French lady outdoors Harrods and drugging and sexually assaulting her

A US Air Force pilot cried today as he was cleared of kidnapping a nine-year-old French girl outside Harrods before drugging and sexually assaulting her. 

Robert Prussak, 57, broke down as ‘not guilty’ verdicts were read out to all six of the charges levelled against him at Isleworth Crown Court.

It was said previously that the defendant had approached the child outside Harrods after she became separated from her family on April 22, during a holiday in London.

The prosecution alleged he then led her back to his hotel apartment and drugged her – before taking her to Hyde Park and inappropriately touching her.

But Mr Prussak’s evidence was that he was ‘only trying to help’ the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and wanted to keep her ‘safe’.

Robert Prussak, 57, has been found not guilty of kidnapping, drugging and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old French girl outside Harrods 

It was said previously that the defendant had approached the child outside the department store after she became separated from her family on April 22, during a holiday in London  

The father-of-two also told jurors that he decided to help when he spotted her because he would have wanted someone to help his own daughters.

He said: ‘When I spotted her, I thought she seemed lost because she was looking around – like she was searching for someone.

‘But then I thought maybe she was waiting for someone inside the shop and so I walked on.

‘But as I did, I thought, what if she is lost – and needs help? My mind went straight to my daughters who are a few years older than her.

‘I thought if my daughters were lost in a big city, I wouldn’t want them stuck there alone.’

Mr Prussak said he took the girl to his hotel apartment to ‘get his bearings’ and ‘search for nearby police stations’.

While there, he gave her a drink of water and let her watch TV.

Tests of the girl’s urine after she was found detected Diphenhydramine – the active ingredient in Benadryl – prompting an allegation that Mr Prussak had spiked the drink he gave her with the sedative.

The father-of-two also told jurors that he decided to help when he spotted her because he would have wanted someone to help his own daughters 

But tests of the glasses in Mr Prussak’s apartment showed no evidence of Benadryl.

Mr Prussak said he and the girl left his apartment after he had found a nearby fire station on his iPad – where he intended to seek help.

They followed a Google Maps route which took them through Hyde Park – and later bumped into police officers outside the Israeli Embassy.

Mr Prussak had insisted to jurors: ‘I did not touch [the girl] in the way she described. I’m not sure why she would say that.’

Jurors found the pilot not guilty of all counts he had been charged with: kidnapping, kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offence, administering a substance with intent, and three counts of sexual assault.

The court heard that Mr Prussak was a pilot for the US Airforce for 18-and-a-half years.

He then became a pilot for Walmart before later switching to work as a ‘pilot for hire’ to allow him to visit his daughters more following his divorce from his wife.

He was in London in April for a job interview.

After the verdicts were read out, Judge Edward Connell said: ‘He is discharged.’