Austrian girl's lawyer "devastated" by cell

By Angelika Gruber
Reuters

STRASSHOF, Austria (Reuters) - Natascha Kampusch's lawyer visited the windowless basement cell where she was held captive for eight years from the age of 10 on Friday and said he was devastated by the "unimaginable" conditions.

"The reality is harsher than anything you can imagine," Gerald Ganzger told reporters after examining the 6 square meter (65 sq ft) cell near Vienna that she was kept in by an Austrian man after he abducted her on the way to school.

"I am devastated -- this is unimaginable," he said. "It makes such a big difference to see this in real life rather than just in newspaper pictures."

Ganzger and police officers said it would help investigations into one of Austria's most notorious crimes that has made headlines across the world if Kampusch, now 18, returned to the house with them.

"One needs to revisit the crime scene to retrace all the steps and to clear up potential misunderstandings," said Armin Halm from the Federal Crime Office.

Kampusch escaped from the house in the sedate commuter town of Strasshof 25 km (15 miles) outside Vienna on August 23.

Her captor, 44-year-old communications technician Wolfgang Priklopil, killed himself shortly after she fled when he was distracted by a phone call while she was vacuuming his car.

Kampusch, now staying at an undisclosed location with counsellors, has said in a statement she was mourning Priklopil's death. Police say she had "sexual contact" with her captor but have not elaborated.

Experts say Kampusch is suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome" -- a psychological condition in which prisoners begin to identify with their captors.

Her psychiatrist said the ordeal had left Kampusch with deep psychological scars but that she was also a mature woman.

Kampusch, reported to be in good physical health, was expected to give her first public interview sometime next week, said her adviser Dietmar Ecker.

In her statement issued earlier this week, she described how she and her captor furnished the cell hidden beneath a garage, had breakfast with him, helped him cook and chatted with him.

She said Priklopil had told her to address him as "master" but that she refused.

Police said they had completed a search for DNA traces in the house but were still hunting for other clues to confirm whether Priklopil had acted on his own or had a helper.

Divers were called in to search an old well in the garden.

Police said they were investigating whether Priklopil knew about John Fowles' novel "The Collector", which tells the story of a man who kidnapped a girl and hid her in a secret basement cell in the hope one day she might fall in love and marry him.

"We have received several tips about the book," said Gerhard Lang, a senior police officer. He said no copy of the novel had been found at the house.