Print

Mail

wiki links

Austrian dungeon abuse suspect to appear in court

Josef Fritzl is pictured at an unspecified location in this photo released by Austrian police on Monday. PHOTO: AP

A 73-year-old Austrian was to appear in court yesterday after confessing to the most shocking case of incest and abuse in the country’s history.

Josef Fritzl, a retired technician from Amstetten, admitted to having fathered seven children with his daughter whom he kept locked in a basement dungeon for 24 years.

Later yesterday, DNA evidence confirmed that he had fathered seven children with his daughter.

He had already been transferred on Monday to the provincial capital St Poelten for the court hearing, where judges were expected to rule Fritzl must remain in detention until his trial.

If found guilty, Fritzl, who is being described as a family despot, can expect a prison sentence of up to 25 years for rape and imprisonment.

Media reports said Fritzl had already hired two celebrity lawyers.

Police were continuing to search the Fritzl family home, where three of the children lived with their “grandfather” and his wife, while daughter Elisabeth, 42, and three other children were locked in a basement dungeon.

One of the infants, all results of the sexual abuse, died shortly after birth. The boy’s body was burned by Josef Fritzl in the house’s central heating boiler.

Prosecutors are considering bringing murder charges in this case, as the baby died owing to lack of medical help.

Elisabeth’s eldest daughter, Kerstin, 19, whose illness pulled apart Fritzl’s secret after he had her taken to a local hospital, was in a medically induced coma and was in critical condition, the authorities said.

With his Mercedes-Benz and the rings on his fingers, Josef Fritzl looked every inch a property owner, neighbors told reporters on Monday.

Fritzl’s apartment building, its back garden obscured by a tall hedge, was his kingdom, one neighbor said, and interlopers were not welcome. He owned the building, renting out a few apartments and living on the top floor.
This story has been viewed 653 times.