Waris Dirie, the former supermodel and James Bond girl turned United Nations women's rights ambassador, has claimed she was abducted and assaulted during a three day period she went missing in Brussels last week.Miss Dirie was admitted to hospital, in her hometown of Vienna, with an arm injury and abrasions to her legs. Gerald Ganzger, her lawyer, alleged the injuries had been inflicted by a Belgian taxi driver who abducted and attempted to rape her while holding her hostage in his flat for two days.
Miss Dirie, a 43-year-old naturalised Austrian, went missing in the early hours of last Wednesday morning just hours before she was due to speak alongside Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, at a top level European Union conference on women's rights.
Her disappearance sparked a national manhunt. Following her initial reappearance on Friday afternoon, Miss Dirie apologised for a "misunderstanding" and said she was "lost".
Walter Lutschinger, her manager, has tried to explain why Miss Dirie did not tell police of the attack. "I think that she was simply in extreme shock," he said.
Jos Colpin, the Brussels prosecutor, expressed police bafflement. "It was made clear by her that she was the victim of nothing. Naturally we will open a new dossier if a new charge is made."
The mystery over Mis Dirie's missing days also deepened after a 45-year old Belgian man, known only as William D, came forward to say that he picked up Miss Dirie in a bar.
The window cleaner first spotted the former model on Thursday in a scruffy Brussels bar, Chez Henri, before approaching her over a glass of red wine the next day. After inviting her back to his home to eat, William D. and Miss Dirie were stopped by police officers, who had recognised her.
"If only I had taken another way home or a taxi, I could have had a good time with a splendid woman," he told La Dernière La Dernière Heure newspaper.
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