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Incest Monster: Fritzl daughter tells of fight to save children

by zeet | March 8, 2009 at 07:27 am

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Austria’s ‘incest monster’ faces trial next week. Early evidence will be horrific. He will offer a shocking defence, claiming that his daughter was having sex when she was barely out of her teens. She smoked. She took drugs. She drank. He wanted to save her.

A WOMAN whose father locked her in a cellar for nearly a quarter of a century and had seven children by her will tell a court next week that she “tried to please him” in order to protect her daughter and sons from his abuse.

In filmed testimony, Elisabeth Fritzl, 43, will describe being assaulted by her father for the first time at the age of 11, when she defended herself against rape by “kicking and screaming”, according to sources close to the investigation.

Josef Fritzl, 74, who goes on trial next week for murder, incest, unlawful imprisonment and “enslavement”, is convinced he could serve fewer than 10 years in prison for what has been described as Austria’s most horrific post-war crime.

The trial will raise uncomfortable questions about Austrian society, highlighting police failings and a town’s astonishing blindness to what was unfolding beneath one of its main streets, where Fritzl held Elisabeth as a sex slave for 24 years in a warren of windowless, soundproofed rooms.

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generaldecay

at 07:43 on March 8th, 2009

This is honestly one of the most horrific stories I've heard of in a while. I was in shock for a week when it all unfolded last year. I do not have a punitive philosophy but I think that there is no punishment to great for this monster.

zeet

at 07:52 on March 8th, 2009

He's very lucky he's in a European country. Over here we would have either executed him, or let him rotten in prison for the rest of his life (if "prisoner justice" allowed him to live that long).

generaldecay

at 07:57 on March 8th, 2009

I dare say he will spend the rest of his natural life in prison. I would be very surprised if they give a lesser sentence.

zeet

at 08:03 on March 8th, 2009

Unfortunately, the prison term guidelines in many European countries are extremely soft, compared to here. He could get as little as 10-12 years, and as much as 20-25. But "life" as we define it is unthinkable.

generaldecay

at 08:04 on March 8th, 2009

This is true, but he'll never be free. When/ if he's released from prison, he'll be kept in a secure mental institution. Which could well be worse.

Fred Miller

at 07:57 on March 8th, 2009

I was racking my brains for his name to include for my Women's Day-related article. Now, I have it - a day later. Strange and timely news for IWD 2009.

Thanks for this, zeet