Morning:
9°c
Josef Fritzl: I want to be punished
Allan Hall in Berlin27 Mar 2009
JOSEF FRITZL has given his first interview from his prison cell a week after being sentenced to life imprisonment.
"I wanted the hardest punishment," said Fritzl, 73, who changed his pleas at his trial last week to guilty on all counts including raping his daughter Elisabeth 3,000 times and the murder of a newborn child.
He said: "I tried to make life in the cellar as pleasant as possible for my second family - and in the course of the years, a partnership between my daughter and myself."
He said his fantasy collapsed at his trial when he came face to face with the daughter he locked up at 18.
Reader views (8)
In my opinion, thinking that people cannot be rehabilitated is an act of gross inhumanity in its own right. Yes, he should be, and is, permanently removed from society.
- Real, London, 30/03/2009 14:40
Report abuse
To Real - If you knew anything about psychopaths you'd know one of the most fundamental things about them is they LIE!
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx, 30/03/2009 13:35
Report abuse
Lock him up and keep him away from the rest of society. These people can not be rehabilated and why should he be given a second chance anyway.
- Julie, South Africa, 30/03/2009 13:05
Report abuse
In response to Rogan, I would point out that Fritzl is a human being, whether we like it or not. He is not an animal, monster, fictional character, or an alien. What he did is abhorrent but it was the act of a human being. He represents our species potential for harm. It seems logical that every person who is currently or has previously violated another person has guilt on some level and had to be in a great deal of denial in order to do it. When they are undeniably confronted and the truth is exposed, they will feel shame, guilt, fear, and the need to be punished. It is testament to the fact that Fritzl is not psychotic or a psychopath that he has made this statement. It is testament to the skill of his psychiatrist who has broken down the wall of denial he built. It shows people can be genuinely remorseful and therefore rehabilitated. Fritzl went so far he won't be getting out, but we need to apply this thinking to all of those criminals amongst us and who are currently serving time so that they won't simply come out of prisons worse than they went in. It is proven that being confronted by the victim of crime is a good rehabilitation method in trials in USA. We need to urgently consider this being used more widedly. Not everyone who has committed an awful crime is going to be locked up for life and many live amongst us. They ARE human beings, they have potential for rehabilitation. Our failure to see they represent part of humanity is our own form of denial.
- Real, London, 30/03/2009 12:36
Report abuse
I think it is disgusting this beast is being interviewed at all. The moment he was sentenced should have been the last anyone outside of his psychiatric hospital heard anything more from him.
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx, 30/03/2009 11:55
Report abuse
"He said his fantasy collapsed at his trial when he came face to face with the daughter he locked up at 18."
Oh yeah, that holds water....
What about when he came face to face with her each time he raped her? Remorse is of value only when it isn't designed solely to lessen a thoroughly deserved punishment. The man has already been clearly shown to be calculating and utterly self-centred.
Personally, I wish him a long, though not necessarily happy life locked away from the world.
- Rogan, Irving, 30/03/2009 07:51
Report abuse
I'm sure that can be arranged!
- Roz, Chamonix, France, 27/03/2009 14:35
Report abuse
put him in stocks at the local market
- Robert Phelps, bussiere poitevine 87320 france, 27/03/2009 14:04
Report abuse
