After a trial that lasted for four days towards the end of which he pleaded guilty, 73-year old Austrian Josef Fritzl was pronounced criminally liable for all charges against him. His crimes: murder by neglect, enslavement, deprivation of liberty, rape, incest, and coercion. His sentence: life imprisonment in a secure psychiatric institution.
The offender’s state of mental health and the risk of recidivism have prompted the court in St. Poelten to opt for his accommodation in a mental institution. Fritzl will be promptly transferred to Mittersteig in Vienna. After a period of 15 years, and after at least three judges allow him, Fritzl could be released from the psychiatric facility to live the life of an ordinary criminal behind bars, serving a life sentence.
For 24 years, retired electrician Fritzl hostaged, enslaved, raped 3,000 times, and tortured his daughter Elisabeth in the windowless 60-square meter cellar of his house. He also fathered her seven children.
The prosecution also accused Fritzl for the death of his son/grandson who died shortly after birth in the same basement in 1996. Fritzl failed to seek medical help for the baby whom he burned in the boiler when the child died.
The horrendous case was uncovered eleven months ago when one of the three children who had never seen sunlight, 19-year old Kerstin, fell seriously ill and was taken by Fritzl to a hospital.
Three of the children born in the basement were raised by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie after he made up the story that Elisabeth had left them to their care. The police said that Rosemarie did not know the real actions of her husband.
Via BBC
