The father of a nine-year-old girl who went missing while they were visiting London believed she could have been abducted after he was shown a photo of her walking away with a strange man, a court heard.
American pilot Robert Prussak, 57, approached the girl outside Harrods after she became separated from her family during a trip to London from France in April last year, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
He is accused of kidnapping, drugging and sexually assaulting her, and denies all the charges against him.
Prussak, of no fixed address, appeared in court on Tuesday wearing a light blue T-shirt and glasses.
The girl's father gave evidence via videolink from France.
He said he had spent the day travelling around London with his wife and three children, visiting Buckingham Palace.
They were on their way to a museum when they decided to stop at Harrods.
He said he realised that his daughter was not with them when they entered the department store.
"We started panicking," he said.
He said they approached a member of staff who then spoke to security.
The staff checked the CCTV while his wife went back outside Harrods and retraced their steps.
He said he rang the police, and when they arrived he, or his wife, gave them a photo of their daughter to help the search.
He was then approached by a police officer who showed him a photo of his daughter walking away with a man he did not recognise.
"I understood it was much more serious than what I thought," he said.
He said he began to consider the possibility that his daughter had been abducted.
"At first, when the minutes were passing by, I thought she was lost, but when I saw the picture of the man I thought she could have been abducted," he said.
The girl's mother also described the moment police showed her the photo of her daughter walking away with a strange man.
"I was out of words, I could not believe it," she said.
She said the three hours her daughter was missing were "very stressful".
"It was very stressful, we were in the lounges of Harrods upstairs," she said.
"I was very stressed, but I tried to keep calm for the children."
The jury also heard evidence from Khadija Errady, a French-speaking customer services worker at Harrods who translated for the parents.
She said staff at the department store sprung into action after the parents informed them that their child was missing.
She said the girl's father was "very stressed".
"He was very uncomfortable with the situation," she said. "I remember there were times I even saw him crying.
"(The mother) was very composed because she did not want to make her children stressed."
The nine-year-old girl was also cross-examined by Catherine Donnelly, defending, on Tuesday.
She said she was not crying, but she was sad, when she became separated from her parents.
Ms Donnelly also asked her about her evidence that she began to feel tired after drinking "strange" tasting water given to her by Prussak in his flat.
The girl said she did not think that water in the UK tasted different from water in France.
She also said that while she did not feel anything "just right after" drinking the water, "a little bit after" she felt tired.
Ms Donnelly asked her if she took any medicine while she was in Prussak's flat, or earlier in the day.
She said she had not.
Prussak denies three counts of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.
He also denies one count of kidnapping, one count of committing an offence of kidnapping with an intent to commit a sexual offence, and one count of administering a substance with intent.
The trial continues.
