Austria sentences Fritzl to life in mental institution in incest trial
Güncelleme Tarihi:
An Austrian jury on Thursday ordered Josef Fritzl jailed for life for treating his daughter as a sex slave in the cellar of his home during a 24-year orgy of depravity in which he fathered seven children. (UPDATED)
The court in the Austrian town of
The jury found him unanimously guilty of murder one of the seven children after Fritzl and other charges of rape and incest and sequestration in the cellar of the family house in Amstetten.
Fritzl at first denied murder and enslavement but changed his plea after being confronted by the video testimony of his daughter Elisabeth.
The verdict brought a dramatic end to a case that has drawn worldwide attention.
Fritzl's abuses came to light last April when he took the eldest child to hospital after she became seriously ill. Elisabeth and her six children, aged 5 to 19 at their discovery, and three of whom were incarcerated from birth, are now living in an undisclosed location under new identities. Three of the children were raised above ground by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie after he told people that Elisabeth had abandoned them and joined a sect.
REMORSEFUL?
Before the verdict had been announced, Fritzl had made a last expression of remorse.
"I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart," the 73-year-old retired engineer told the eight jurors before they retired to quickly reach guilty verdict on the charges which included murder, rape and incest.
"Unfortunately, I cant change anything now," AFP quoted him as saying.
But chief prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser said the remorse shown by Fritzl was a sham.
"Don’t believe him, he’s shown his true face in trying to exploit people’s gullibility," she said of Fritzl and his stunning change of heart on Wednesday when he pleaded guilty to enslaving his daughter Elisabeth as well as murder.
The murder charge related to the death of a child whom Fritzl did nothing to help when aware that he was mortally ill.
Elisabeth Fritzl, now 42, went to the court on Tuesday to see her father’s reaction to 11 hours of video testimony she recorded for the trial.
Elisabeth’s lawyer Eva Plaz also poured scorn on Fritzl’s show of remorse, saying the woman wanted her father "to be held accountable until he dies.
"There’s not a trace of remorse. Perhaps he is still counting on an early release," she said.
"Don’t believe one word from the defendant. The defendant wanted to be master over life and death."