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Released dungeon incest daughter wakes from coma

Kerstin Fritzl, the 19-year-old who was born in a dungeon prison and held captive there by her father, has woken from a seven-week coma, the hospital where she is being treated confirmed on Tuesday.

“I can confirm that she has woken up,” said Klaus Schwertner, spokesman for the clinic in Amstetten in Lower Austria.

He said Kerstin had emerged from the artificially induced coma “several days ago,” but “still required intensive medical and therapeutic care.”

Reports that she had been reunited with her mother and the rest of her family remained unconfirmed on Tuesday.

Hospital chiefs were due to give more details at a press conference yesterday.

Kerstin, who was held in the underground prison by Josef Fritzl, 73, along with her mother Elisabeth, 42, and two brothers Stefan and Felix, was released on April 19 with a serious illness. Under pressure from his distraught daughter, Fritzl took her to a hospital, where suspicious doctors raised the alarm.

Her release was the catalyst that led to the rest of the family being freed from their prison at the end of April and to the arrest of Fritzl.

Elisabeth was locked up by her father as an 18-year-old in 1984. He sexually abused her and she bore seven of his children, one of whom died shortly after childbirth and three of whom were brought up by Fritzl and his wife in the family home. Fritzl told authorities his daughter had run off to join a sect and he was allowed to adopt or foster Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, who he said had been dumped on his doorstep.

Kerstin was said to have suffered from breathing difficulties and stomach cramps, probably because of being starved of fresh air, light and an adequate diet. She nearly died.

Doctors, who started waking her from her coma last month, said that an important part of Kerstin’s recovery would be her reunion with the rest of her family.

Elisabeth and her children are being looked after in the Amstetten-Mauer psychiatric clinic and being taught to deal with normal life as well as getting used to sunlight and human contact.

Police are to start interviewing Elisabeth around the middle of next month. Special forces have been brought in to guard the family from paparazzi intruders who have tried to enter the hospital grounds in the hope of getting a photograph of them, which would be likely to command 1 million euros (US$1.55 million) or more.

Fritzl, who is being held in custody in St Polten, may go on trial later this year, said Gerhard Sedlacek, spokesman for the state prosecutor. He is likely to be charged with rape, imprisonment and incest. If convicted, he would face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
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