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How sex slave dungeon daughter looks now... after 24 years locked in a cellar
Last updated at 13:52pm on 01.05.08Her face haggard and her hair lank and grey, she looks at least 20 years older than her actual age of 42.
But this is the first shocking image of Elisabeth Fritzl as she is today - 24 years after she was first locked up in a dungeon by her own father, Josef.
The artist's impression shows a woman with short, bluntly cut grey hair and a heavily-lined face - all indications of the decades of trauma she has suffered at his hands.
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Haunted: Elisabeth Fritzl as a fresh-faced teenager and how she looks today
Doctors say her teeth, hidden here behind her pursed lips, are horrifically decayed due to the years she lived in the windowless dungeon below her parents' home in Amstetten.
Fritzl allegedly started sexually abusing her when she was just 11 and is believed to started plotting to lock her up in his cellar at around the same time.
The image is a stark contrast to the last known picture of his daughter as a fresh-faced teenager before she was incarcerated and forced to become a sex slave.
It was created based on interviews with police and doctors who have been caring for her since she emerged from the cellar last weekend and is said to be an "accurate artist's impression" of the woman today.
Police say she now looks like the sister, rather than the daughter, of her mother, Rosemarie, 67, who was completely unaware of the "house of horrors" beneath her feet.
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Fritzl gets a massage on the beach during one 'boys holiday' to Thailand as his daughter and three of her children remain locked up in his cellar back in Austria
Elisabeth had not seen daylight for almost a quarter-of-a-century when she managed to persuade Fritzl to allow her to go to hospital after her oldest daughter, Kerstin, 19, collapsed.
She managed to run away from home twice before she was imprisoned but was sent back each time by police, it has been claimed.
It has also emerged that Fritzl used to take her into a sound-proofed padded room to rape her after locking up his other secret children in separate areas of the cellar.
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Innocent: Elisabeth as a schoolgirl in the last known picture before she was locked up
As Elisabeth and three of her children by Fritzl were forced to live downstairs, her mother and her other three children lived normally above them.
Elisabeth reportedly used to tell her children in the cellar, Kerstin, Stefan, 18, and Felix, five, that "heaven was upstairs".
All four now have complicated medical problems as a result of living in the windowless cellar, including Vitamin D deficiency and bad posture.
Kerstin, who has already lost almost all of her teeth, is in an induced coma after collapsing last week. She is still in a critical condition and fighting for her life.
Evil: Fritzl after his arrest last weekend
Doctors are said to have placed a cargo container outside so that Fritzl's captives can retreat there if they feel too traumatised by daylight and the open space.
Further details of Elisabeth's time in the cellar have also now emerged. She has apparently told police she was so scared of her father that she submitted herself to him entirely.
"I don't know why it was so, but my father simply chose me for himself," she told officers, according to the Independent.
It is thought Fritzl first began abusing her when she was 11, in the cellar, his car and on country walks.
As a schoolgirl, she is said to have tried everything to hide the truth from her friends and made them leave her house as soon as her father returned home.
A former pupil at her school said she was "terrified of not being home on time".
It was in 1984 that Fritzl's campaign of abuse escalated and he drugged his daughter with ether before dragging her downstairs and locking her up.
Once there, he handcuffed her to a metal pole and kept her in total darkness for weeks on end.
The pensioner would only visit her to bring food or to rape her. Elisabeth reportedly told police she had to decide between being raped or being left to starve.
Fritzl extended the dungeon time and again to accommodate his growing, secret family after initially building it on the pretext of constructing a nuclear shelter.
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House of horror: Behind this facade of normality, the retired electrical engineer hid his secret family in a windowless dungeon in the basement for years
He was first granted planning permission in 1978 and then five years later, allowed to extend it into a proper living quarters with rooms and running water. A year later, it became his daughter's prison.
Eventually, every single room had a lock or barrier so that he could lock his family up separately at will and the whole cellar was blocked off by a tiny, reinforced concreted door.
An investigator told the Sun: "The picture we are getting is that Fritzl planned his entrapment for years, maybe as soon as he started raping his daughter.
"We understand that Elisabeth was his favourite child because she was so pretty. He didn't want to lose her when she turned 18 so he spent six years building the dungeon to keep her for himself forever.
"It wasn't just a sudden idea to throw his daughter in the cellar - it was plotted for years."
Tenants who shared the large house with the Fritzls were warned to stay away from the basement or face being evicted.
Alfred Dubanovsky, 42, who lived there for 12 years, told how Fritzl spent his days there but banned anyone else from going near it.
He also revealed how he had heard strange noises in the night and spotted him ferrying wheelbarrows of food under cover of darkness but did not consider it unusual.
Mr Dubanovsky said: "I wish to God that I could turn back the clock. The signs were all there but it was impossible for me to recognise them.
"Who would ever believe something so terrible was going on right under my feet? It is a regret I will have to live with for the rest of my life."
The petrol station attendant added: "I never in my wildest dreams thought he was behind anything like this. He spent every day in his cellar but I thought his behaviour was pretty normal."
DNA tests confirm Fritzl is the father to Elisabeth's six children. A seventh was born but died three days later. He burnt the baby boy's body on a furnace at the house.
He has already signed a confession but is now refusing to speak to detectives and his lawyer has hinted he could yet deny rape, incest and abduction.
Even if he is convicted of the worst offence of rape, he can only be jailed for a maximum of 15 years - nine years less than the sentence he inflicted on his own daughter.
His case has sparked a growing clamour for a reform of Europe's lenient penal system and debate over whether harsher U.S. style sentencing guidelines could be used to deter such heinous crimes.
"Fifteen years for destroying human lives is unacceptable," said Harald Vilimsky, a public safety policy official with Austria's conservative Freedom Party.
"Any punishment that falls a single day short of a life sentence is a mockery of the victims."
Reader views (103)
I only speak for my self when I say I would rather be dead, you people say she had to survive? Why? Ever heard to a mercy killing? S-U-I-C-I-D-E. It would have been better. God forgive me.
- Saha, Denver CO USA
@ teresa he was locked up on the 1960's when he was young and elisabeth was not born yet
- Nikkig, newark,usa
What's more evil, the man or the penal system that allows the man to escape with such leniency? He should get 15 years for each rape occurrence, negligent homicide for the death of the baby, kidnapping for each child aggravated for each year of detaining each person against their will, ect., ect.
The world will now watch to see how Austria will meet its justice.
- Bvorhees, USA
Few things:
-This guy should get a life sentence. What he did was disgusting, inhumane, and insane.
-I hope all of the kids are okay... it's just terrible
- Drew, NYC, USA
I have read everything I could get my hands on about this case. The only question I feel that hasn't been answered is- If he was in jail for 18 mos., then who brought food to the cellar? You can't tell me he was arrested for the rape of someone else and then allowed to go home then put in jail at a later date.
- Teresa, Seekonk, USA
I think he should be locked-up in his own dungeon--never knowing if he will get food, or water , or anyone will ever see him again. or if he will die unnoticed. He built it-he already knows the lay-out.
- Presidentcharlie, Austin, tx USa
I agree with Greg, send him to Texas for proper treatment. Better yet, send him to New York. How great would it be to see this freak sentenced to life in maximum security state prison? Lock him in a cell for the rest of his pathetic life. Less than scum....and once again, no one knew or heard anything, right?
@Dan, New York, USA: He surely won't get just a "slap on the wrist" for that crime. This incident shocked us as it shocked people in other countries.
Prisoners already said they want to kill him, so he isn't going to have an easy time in prison.
Also he is 74, when he comes out of prison he will be at least 89. It is questionable if will even get this old in prison. Maybe his sentence is longer than 15 years, I'm not sure if the statements about a max. sentence of 15 years are true, because he multiple times raped his daughter.
Sadly I am sure such crimes will still happen. Think of the Jersey torture chamber in a former children's home.
People do gruesome things all over the world, it won't stop, and corporal punishment won't stop it either, or did it?
- Dirk, Linz, Austria
This appalling story raises one question in my mind, where did the mother and other children think Elizabeth had disappeared to? It seems to me that at least one person, the mother, was complicit in all this. No teacher reported her missing from school? Her siblings never asked questions? Undoubtedly he is a monster, but he was a monster with some family help. I cannot think of a single American woman, excluding those living in cult-like compounds, whose teen daughter would disappear, and she never utters a word! Women everywhere need to be educated to report abuse by the breadwinner.
- Linda, Houston, USA
Seriously, how can people act morally outraged at punitive action towards this guy? Asking people how they can justify imprisoning him because he imprisoned someone else. I'll tell you exactly how.
This guy opted to imprison and rape his daughter for a quarter of a century. When you make choices like that, you forfeit your right to make further choices.
We have rules. As societies, we have laws that have to be enforced somehow. He broke the rules. He gets his punishment. And to be honest, when your transgression is clearly greater than the punishment you receive, there's a problem.
He's going to get, at maximum, less than he gave. And there are people actually saying that he should be given even less.
Besides, John, you even said it yourself. What's right for one is right for all. So if it's right for this man to lock up his daughter, it's certainly right for us to imprison him right back.
And if it's not right for him to act the way he has, then he has obviously does something worthy of punishment.
I don't know how anyone can defend someone this obviously malicious and look themselves in the mirror.
- T.J., Battle Creeek, MI, USA
In response to your comment John, "If you condone imprisoning him or violence towards him, then justify why you think he is immoral and you aren't."
Because he is not an innocent man. He is a guilty man who has ruined someone's life. Let me ask you a question. If you witness a man murder someone, and then he goes to murder another person... are you going to stand there and let it happen?
I would argue that our basic sense of what is right would move us to act to prevent this atrocity from coming to pass.
So I think there is more immorality in letting a bad person go free than locking said person up. That is if you base morality from the sum of human suffering, and not some child rapists feelings.
- Scott, Portland, OR USA
Clearly there are issues with the American prison system but when it comes to a situation as heinous as this, those issues don't apply. Everybody has the right to live free and make a life for themselves. This man STOLE his daughter's life and, instead, thrust her into a living hell for a quarter of a century. There is no way she can now go on to live a 'normal' life nor can any of her 6 children. You ask, "how can we advocate locking up this man?" At some point, he decided his needs were more important than the lives of 7 people or the rules that the rest of society live by. You suggest we should, "Perhaps [show him] what [he] did to people, making [him] feel bad for what [he] did." That sounds like a great idea except for the fact that this is real life. This man looked his daughter in the eye while he raped and tortured her for 25 years. NOTHING you show or say to him is going to make him feel "bad". It's a sad fact but there are just some people in our world who are evil. They don't think or feel anything like you or I. It's impossible to 'understand' these people or their motives and trying to do so is an exercise in futility. When these people are found they must be removed from society. If this man is out of jail in 15 years and allowed to live the rest of his days in peace it will be a mockery of justice and a travesty of humanity.
- Zack, Boston, MA, USA
Leo, your view that removing evil people from society via execution is "detrimental" indicates that your ethical judgments are guided by moral chaos. You believe the precise opposite of what any rational human will conclude: that those who violate the rights of others are the only ones who deserve to have their own protected. By adhering to this standard, you deny those rights to people who actually deserve them: the innocent.
No amount of remorse will revive the dead. Justice comes through actions, not feelings.
- Andrew Pledger, USA
They should imprison him much like how he was imprisoned.
And just feed him enough to starve and suffer.
- Gautam, Canada
I hate to say it but I'm with John on this one.
The way the legal system copes with people is wrong: They either go in to prison and are destroyed (thus useless to the general population by devouring resources) or come out stronger and better equipped to re-offend in whatever their given crime was.
Either way, it is detrimental to society.
There has to be a better way than putting people in a segregated box and ignoring them.
Perhaps showing them what they did to people, making them feel bad for what they did or something to this effect to the point where you can neurologically confirm that they genuinely feel bad for what they did.
We know too little about the mind and it is the mind that commits the crime.
- Leo, Linconshire, UK
You all sound like pretty sick people. Some guys I know said he should be imprisoned etc. I said: "How can you consider him to be immoral when you advocate that?"
They seemed to think they should be able to police him, while he shouldn't be allowed to police his own daughter in the exact same way.
I can't give you an answer, but is an eye for an eye really the best policy? If you condone imprisoning him or violence towards him, then justify why you think he is immoral and you aren't.
The only relationships we have are human to human, the idea police, or state is another species is wrong; What's right for one, is right for all. There is no such thing as collective morality.
- John, Chelmsford, UK
Fritzl is a monster, his wife must be a fool, and Dubanovsky is stupid, very stupid. Impossible to recognize "the signs" of wheelbarrows of food put in the basement under cover of darkness?
What a dimwitted legal system, to let this guy off with only a few years in prison.
- Randolph Phillips, Shiloh, GA, USA
Tell you what... Put him prison in Georgia (USA) for hmmm 5 days then release him. The only catch is that he will be in with the general population....Bet you he does not make it to day 2.
- A Stein, USA
Bring him to Lower South Florida; we'll take care of him. Pronto!
- Juan Pablo, Naples, Florida, U.S.A.
How did half of his daughters incest-babies get integrated into the house, community, etc. without anyone asking where they came from?
Perhaps a European penal code will not be necessary, I know what would happen if this guy were in my town. Justice doesn't wait for the government.
- Sdm, Idaho, USA
Liberals don't believe in Evil, the Bible clearly tells us that man is evil by nature, since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. Evil reigns today as we are in the end times, if you don't believe it, look around and open your eyes!
- Pete, Akron, USA
Put him in jail but give him no light. Give him a bed but chain him to it. Feed him food without nutritional value. Make him live that way for as long as his daughter was forced to live in that condition. Killing him fast is a way to rid the world of evil but somehow not as satisfying!
- Cynthia, New York New York
How would killing him be a punishment? She's imprisoned for 24 years and you want to let him escape punishment by killing him. I'm sorry, if you believe there is a Hell, he can wait a little longer for it. I don't believe in Hell and I couldn't stand the thought of him "escaping" through death. Put him in a cramped 4x4 cell for the rest of his life and never let him out for any reason, that would be more just in my opinion.
- Scott, Tampa usa
Put him in general population here in a US prison, he'll get what he deserves... unbelievable.
- Derek, USA
If Adolph Hitler didn't wake those idiots up then nothing ever will.
Europeans are blind and indifferent to reality.
- Ken, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
What is ridiculous is to see people from the US, the same that keep people for years in Guantanamo without any respect for human rights, trying to give lessons to us on justice.
Sentencing somebody to death is the worst of the crimes, even worse than Fritzl's. Countries with death penalty is, whether you like it or not, sick countries.
- Rafael, Spain
My heart aches for Elizabeth and her family. May God bless them on their journey toward some sense of a sane life. Without a doubt they should lock up this disgusting man and throw away the key.
- Kristinshout, Chicago
I think that the most appropriate punishment for this animal would be to hold him down and peel the skin from his body and leave him to die in the street like the animal that he is.
- Donnie, Athens, GA
Unbelievable. What can I say about something like this? How is this lady going to get her life back? What punishment should this man get? I'm just shaking my head at this.
- Kpro, K-Town, Georgia, USA
Dude, even in Texas he wouldn't be executed . . . you'll have to send him to China for that, there they'll shoot you in the back of the head for shoplifting.
- Mr Mojo, Land o lakes, Wisconsin
Bring that maggot to Florida first, whatever is left we'll ship to Texas.
- Michael Dean Miller, Orlando, Florida, Good Ol' U.S. of A.
If you advocate punishment equal to the crime, he should be locked in a dark, lifeless cellar, handcuffed to a pipe, and brought food every 5 days in a wheelbarrow, and otherwise cut-off from all contact, so he can sit there and have nothing but his conscience as company ... his evil, demented conscience.
- Brett, Utah, USA
The pain and suffering we choose to inflict on one another is simply amazing. As human beings, we are capable of some very ugly acts. If I were GOD I'd stay away from here for awhile, until we got ourselves together. Only then would I think for returning.
- Tom Hoover, Tempe,AZ USA
How about giving this piece of slime the sentence of life...in a tiny cell with Chester the Molester?
- Davenjan, Cottonwood, CA USA
There is no punishment severe enough for this supremely selfish, evil individual.
My highest hope is that Elisabeth and her children are able to live happily after what was done to them.
- Carlos The Jackal, Townville USA
Absolutely ludicrous for a moment to even comprehend this guy does less time than the amount he forced his daughter to spend in the basement.
- Pete, Costa Rica
The man is a pathetic excuse of a man. His punishment will not come close to making others turn away from doing similar things. Justice? Hardly...
Less we forget there are major cultures that accept treating women as chattle, and everyone winks so as not to offend. Why?
- Jack Frost, Somewhere, USA
Take him to Texas... they will take care of him.
- Marcos, Tennessee
I am opposed to the death penalty; I want this guy to live as long as possible, under horrible conditions and to really suffer horribly. The death penalty is too lenient for this monster... Preferably I would like to see him sharing a cell with a convicted gay rapist. I am sure the rest of the world would be thrilled at that prospect as well.
- Marianne, Oslo, Norway
I will pray for this family, satan has had a hold on them a very long time.
- Thiacyn, cali USofA
Well said Daniel. Greg, a little Lonestar Justice for this animal.
- Scott, Texas
Thank you, Daniel from Portland, for your unbridled stupidity. Firstly, the "Devil," a figment of your religion-addled imagination, has nothing to do with this. People can be evil, no devil, no god, has anything to do with that. They simply do not exist. It is society, if anyone, that is to blame. That or a damaged mind. So keep your religion to yourself. As for this man, believe me when I say he will wish he were not alive once he gets to jail. Killing people who do wrong is mercy. You must punish them so they wish they were dead, and then not let them die. That is justice, and it is far more to fear than death. I am happy to pay his room and board knowing he will suffer greatly for his wrong. Meanwhile in America, you pay the room and board of insignificant drug dealers and small time criminals all the time, on top of your unconstitutional federal tax which you blindly pay. It is also interesting to note that America has a violent crime rate of 80.0645 per 1,000 people, placing it number #8 on the world's most violent countries list, whereas Austria doesn't even make the top 100. So please keep your baseless opinions and religious zealotry to yourself. In Austria we prefer facts and reason.
- Benjamin, Vienna, Austria
Just to let you know, in the United States capital punishment is, in practice, only used in cases involving murder.
- Beth, Dallas, TX
Australia really needs to make some changes to their social services to ensure that nothing like this happens ever again. Instead of the lovable Steve Irwen, this monster is all that I will be able to think of when someone mentions Australia.
- Gw, Alabama USA
That's the EU for you. They have no desire to fund armies to defend themself and they can't even defend their most vulnerable.
- Jon, MA USA
There will always be evil in the world. The way to combat evil is not with more evil but only with love. Even though this man deserves to stay in prison the rest of his life, it still does not mean that capital punishment is a good and just thing. Many people who have been executed have been unjustly executed, proved later by DNA technology that they were innocent of the crime. There is no way that you can be 100% sure with every single person sent to death row, and judicial systems are often biased and at fault. If one innocent life is lost to the death penalty then the system is unjust.
To me, it would seem more of a punishment to have to live out the rest of my life in a cell than to be granted mercy with a quick and a painless death. If you murder someone under the facade of justice, it is still murder just under a different guise. The real issue should be why the community take didn’t notice, the police sent this girl back to her abusive household twice and no one seemed to question her parents or hold anyone accountable. Perhaps this should be a lesson for all of us to look out for the children around us and those who are defenceless and vulnerable even if things appear to be “normal”. There had to have been signs, however insignificant, that something was going on. Why didn’t anyone ask to see this “bomb shelter” that he was allegedly building? I don’t get it. God bless those who survived this horrific situation.
- Dana, Seattle, USA
Perfect Idea, Greg.
- Susan, Houston, TX
Capital punishment will not deter devilish behavior in a person. Capital punishment will not bring back the years these innocent people lost. Capital punishment will not solve any problems. Texas is a perfect example of individuals who believe in capital punishment yet have lost the basic understanding of life and liberty. They struggle with crime, poverty, poor state facilities, low income, bad state highways, and vigilant cowboys who think killing is the answer yet are so-called "church-going good citizens."
This crime is disgusting and the man should be sent to a prison without access to cable TV, work out facilities, basketball courts and other privileges that most individuals in the world don't have access to without paying for it.
- Jm, CA
Reading this terrible story, and then the murderous comments of the USA Commentators illustrates the huge moral divide between the USA and Europe. Bloody, often religious based, revenge does not solve all problems and certainly doesn't invalidate European criticisms of American policy disasters around the world. Sorry USA folks, after the trial (remember them?) he'll be dealt with properly and humanely - and there'll be no blood on OUR hands.
- Kn, Loughborough, UK
He has demonic possession and is mentally ill. His whole family looks like they suffered from the hands of that monster. The only one half smiling is the mother, the other children do not look happy at all. He deserves the death sentence then he could meet his friend the devil instead of tax payers having to foot the bill. He is the filth of the earth.
- Sharon Yurkiewicz, Smithville, Tx.
I must agree with the others. Let him be tried in the good ol' USA, we'll give him a fitting punishment.
- K/C, New Jersey
What this slimy creep needs is, a cell mate named "Bubba!"
- Tunney, Oregon
I agree...bring him to Texas! This guy should be locked up in solitary confinement in an underground prison cell for about...lets say...24 years. The "eye for an eye" Bible quote sounds like it is just what this sadistic pervert deserves.
- Old Hippie, Houston, TX USA
And some folks don't believe in the devil?
- Brett, Sturgeon Bay, USA
"All four now have complicated medical problems as a result of living in the windowless cellar, including Vitamin D deficiency and bad posture."
...and how about the fact that they are spawns of incest? Hello?
- Toobad, Birmingham, AL
Well, it seems the USA has better laws than Europe to address these heinous crimes.
- Julio Severo, Brazil
The Outlaw Josey Wales puts it best: "Some folks need killin'."
This monster is definitely one of them.
- Trase, Detroit, MI
An abominable creature, but what good fortune he has to live in a soft, liberal country such as Austria! He will probably receive a slap on the wrist after some idiotic judge finds "mitigating circumstances" to justify his conduct. I agree with Greg, send him to Texas for proper treatment. Better yet, send him to New York. How great would it be to see this freak sentenced to life in maximum security state prison? Lock him in a cell for the rest of his pathetic life. Less than scum....and once again, no one knew or heard anything, right?
- Dan, New York, USA
To those who think the Death Penalty is horrible:
What right does this person have to live?
Do you expect to "rehabilitate him"?
Do you think that Executing this man makes "The State" as evil as he is?
Those who defend this man's right to live, and criticize the Government
for removing this Demoniac from the Earth, are complicit in his wickedness.
- Sam Cookie, Miami USA
Let's have a Death Match between Josef and Gary Hilton. Winner gets to spend his life getting prison raped!
- Jason, Atlanta, USA
The creep might only get 15 years in jail, but watch what happens when he gets out...
- John Mahoney, Westmount, QC
This is a classic illustration that while criminal activity has many motivating factors, some crimes are motivated by evil. The devil works most efficiently when he is completely ignored or disbelieved. The purpose for capital punishment is not simply to frighten others away from committing crimes, but to eliminate a source of evil from society. This man should be given a fair trial and, if found guilty, be executed as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this will never happen in Europe. He will most likely spend the rest of his days in a comfortable Austrian prison, with room and board at taxpayer expense.
- Daniel, Portland, Oregon , USA
Bring him to Texas we'll take care of him.
- Greg, Texas
Maybe this will help change the UN / European perspective of how horrible the USA is for having capital punishment. Maybe they will wake up and realize there is real evil in the world and it must be dealt with in the most pragmatic terms possible.
- Jw, Denver USA
Every time I read about this, I feel sick inside.
This is not a man, this is a monster.
- Barbara, Cincinnati, Oh, USA
Death should be the sentence for these crimes. The victims of this crime will NEVER recover.
- Bernard Barnes, United States
I cannot believe this! When I first read about the story I was in shock! Now I read this article and I'm in tears. This unbelievable woman had only one choice..survive and be there for her children. What a sick freakin man. He should be put to death for the torture, pain, suffering and loss of her life, & liberty to this woman and those children.
What the hell is happening in this world?
- Heather, Stamford, CT - U.S.A.
You want us to believe people saw him lock himself in his basement on a daily basis, all day, and were told to stay away from it and no one thought this behaviour was suspicious?! If my husband or neighbour did something like that, I'd be calling the police pretty darned fast to have that lock picked and the door opened.
- Someone In Pa, State College, PA
Mr. Fritzl should be brutally tortured every minute of every day for the rest of his life (hopefully a very long one).
- Joe, Helena, Montana, USA
The "Death of a Thousand Cuts" would be a fair punishment for this evil, sadistic man.
- Mick, U.S.A.
Slow mental and physical torture (bring him close to death with pain but keep him alive) over 24 years is a good idea. I would volunteer to deliver the justice.
- Roger, USA
Kay is correct. As soon as he gets in prison word spreads fast that he is what the prisoners call "Baby Raper" and this will cause untold suffering up to including the man being raped himself and purposefully exposed to HIV.
It is horrible that prison is like this. I don't understand why the prisoners cannot be protected from one another. I think maximum penalty is a good thing, but allowing the abuse of prisoners by prisoners should come with a price called State Prison liability.
- Bill M, Winneconne, Wi USA
He looks like the Grinch!
- Gabe, Houston, TX
I find it absolutely unbelievable that this girls mother did'nt know about the abuse and if so, did nothing to protect her OWN daughter, rescue her and get her out of that house. The mother indicates that she was unaware, I am baffled by that. Her daughter was never upstairs, outside, or never seen otherwise, how the hell could'nt she have known. Appauling, I think the mother should be held accountable as well, unless of course she too was held captive in the sense that she was afraid and feared for her safety too if she exposed her husband. In any case this is horrible and really hard to believe. That poor woman, I'll pray for her and her children and that they can recover and hopefully have a good life here after.
- Trish, NYC/USA
I'm sure they are considering not only the 15 years for rape, there is also a penalty for torture and for kidnapping. They can charge him for kidnapping for each of the children held there with his daughter, for neglect, for endangerment of a child (X ) each of the children. While they may have a more limited range of penalties than we do here in Texas, all they need to do is to break it down and put him on trial for each child and his daughter. They may also be waiting for medical examinations to see if it carried over to any of his grandaughters! If he is sick enough to do this to his daughter, it probably didn't stop there. I bet that they will charge him with everything they can scrounge up.
- Mj.Logan, Houston, Texas, USA
Hanging is too good for this monster. A good Spanish Inquisition styled torture is in order. Once again the veil of utter superiority the E.U. feels about their much vaunted "Advanced culture" has been lifted. I'm sure there are many other instances like this.
- Brian, USA
No need for a longer sentence if he has confessed, turn him loose in general population, his fellow inmates will decide his fate!
- Sammy, Ballinger,Texas
If the European prisons code is like that of the US, I would imagine his fellow prisoners will make him suffer greatly as most prisoners have a "code" concerning child molesters.
- Kay, USA
This man is pure evil. There is no adequate punishment for these crimes, not even slow execution. My heart bleeds for that poor girl (woman). How can any of us even begin to understand what she went through? Her own father tortured her for decades. I try to imagine what it would be like to bear 7 children all alone in that dungeon -- children fathered by my own father. Words fail to describe the horror. I pray that she and her children find some peace and happiness in their future.
- Sophie, Cincinnati, OH
Punishment for such crimes should be taken as seriously as homicidal crimes because the victim has to live the rest of their life in mental anguish, torture and shame...and didn't have a choice in the matter!
- Denise, USA
This man should be locked up for life...
- John Szepietowski, Weybridge, Surrey
WHY is there no mention about his Wife? I say "wife" because she wasn't a Mother to her daughter! She must have noticed something...all those years...I think she knew and did nothing. Shameful!
- Damejayne, NYC
That poor tenant. I can't imagine the kind of torment and mental anguish he would go through knowing he "could" have done something. As they say, hindsight is always 20/20.
Prayers for him, the town, and especially those poor children.
- David, Knoxville, TN
Who cares about the tenant? What about the wife? She HAD to know what was going on.
- Nellie, Winter Park, Florida
You would have to be pretty sick minded yourself to think up something like this? Ask yourselves, if a friend/relative/neighbour came to you and said "I think my neighbour is harbouring his daughter in the cellar, she's bearing his children etc," you'd think that they had a pretty warped imagination would you not?
There were reports from Austria today that the man isn't talking to the Police and that he is now a "broken man", I'd say he was pretty "broken" when he started this 24 years ago!
As for his prison term, at 72 even if he does only get 15 years, this old man isn't going anywhere!
- Julie, Essex
I should say don't be worrying that all your neighbours are perverts. Just be worried if your husband builds an extensive cellar conversion at the same time as your young daughter disappears, spends his whole spare time down there, bans everybody from going near it, and three babies mysteriously turn up on your doorstep. That is what I think we should all worry about.
- Real, London
I am Austrian. I live in NYC. I have never been ashamed of my country of birth....that is up to now! 20 years??? Give him life in that rotten cellar of his. How disgusting to treat your own children this way!
- Freddie T., New York, N.Y.
" We should be eavesdropping on our neighbours...." YES!!! I trust my neighbours... and they trust me. My children are safer... my property is safer...etc. That is common sense that I would live by.
- Joe, USA
He deserves execution. Slowly.
- Jeff Mcwayne, U.S.A.
This beast deserves the darkest and hottest corner of hell with vivid memories of each and every time he tortured his own daughter with rape for the rest of eternity.
- Buzz, USA
Totally agree with Emma in London!
- Ginger, Tucson, Arizona
It's easy for us to stand in judgement, but I can tell you from living through losing a close friend in a murder-suicide, it is not the work of the normal mind to suspect or anticipate vicious criminal behaviour. It doesn't work that way. Of course it all makes sense in hindsight. But to his neighbours and tenants, he probably was just a creepy old man. The only person I truly do not understand is his wife. I mean really, come on, she had to have known something.
- Adw, Los Angeles, USA
A truly unbelievable story any way you look at it! This father has done the most unspeakable acts I've heard of in recent memory and his punishment should be at the very least 24 years to equate with the years he robbed from his precious daughter! Put him in jail and throw away the key showing him the same mercy as he showed his little girl!
- Jennifer, Kansas City, Missouri
So what did we learn from this? We should be eavesdropping on our neighbours from now on? Should we go to a totalitarian state and report any suspensions to the S.S? I have weird neighbours but I don't get into their business. How could a normal person conceive that their neighbour is capable of such a heinous crime like this? I don't blame anybody but that evil demon. It's easy to criticize in hindsight but let's use common sense.
- Jay, San Antonio, TX, USA
For Pete's sake, people, the tenant said he was mortified and will regret it the rest of his life. Didn't you see that part?
- Tommy Atkins, Chicago
I find it hard to believe an Austrian would standby and do nothing while people were being tortured and mistreated!
Unheard of!
- Mary, Toronto, Canada
Emma is correct, this man was so stupid. Or perhaps he was selfish and more concerned about keeping his contract than helping someone in dire straits. And how did the town building department not inspect the construction of this dungeon? What an absolute disgrace. The whole town should be ashamed.
- Joe Harrison, Bologna, IT
And yet from whatI read, he can only be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years for rape. What an odd country with such lax sentencing laws!
- Andrew, New York City, USA
Sickening! and to think we have leftist judges, politicians and other community activists in the US that would actually sympathy for this man. The world has forgotten our children and uses them for personal gains in a selfish manor.
- Kdb, srb, fl.
I wonder why someone would do something like that. While it seems that stories like these are getting in the news a lot recently, I wonder if this type of thing is a recent phenomenon in modern times or if this kind of thing has always been going on and we just did not know about it.
- Tom, San Antonio, Texas
A controlling man looks for a weak woman because he can have that domination over her. It's possible the wife was abused for years and had a fear of him, as did the daughter. This man was obviously a master manipulator. He seemed obsessive and compulsive. Sometimes we over look things just because we don't want to get involved. I don't blame the tenant that saw the strange behaviour. After all, he does have to live with the regret for the rest of his life. There is a lot more going on than we will ever know. Hopefully this family can heal to some sense of normalcy in the future. And let God rain down his judgement on the father.
- Shannon, USA
Who would have thought, someone actually watched Jerry Springer, and took notes. Perhaps society should function like survivor, where we just vote people off.
- Jennifer, Saint Louis, United States
"But it never occurred to him anything was unusual about his landlord's behaviour."
Sorry but was this man stupid! Your landlord takes wheelbarrows of food to the cellar at night he spends all day in there, the door was alarmed and he told you if you went near it your contract would be cancelled, he would panic at the mention of police and most importantly you could sometimes hear knocking coming from the cellar that you couldn't explain and this is normal.
Seriously how the hell could you not realise that something weird was going on. How ridiculous that man is not to have mentioned it to someone. I hope he can live with himself.
As for the mother I find it difficult to believe that she didn't have some kind of idea what was going on. These people are sick.
- Emma, London
So, clearly this evil man could not have operated without the compliance of his wife. The children and Elisabeth should not be so quickly reunited with such a sick woman.
- Real, London
