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WORLD> Europe
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Austrian incest father Fritzl charged with murder
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-14 11:01 Fritzl imprisoned his daughter and the children beneath his apartment building in Amstetten, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Vienna.
Authorities say Fritzl brought three of the surviving six children upstairs to live otherwise normal lives, and claimed to his wife and neighbors that his daughter, who he said had run away to join a religious cult, had left them on the family's doorstep. The three other children remained imprisoned along with their mother until last April, when one of the youths, a teenage girl, became ill and was taken to a hospital. Officials said it was the first time the three imprisoned children had ever seen sunlight. Fritzl, the indictment alleges, subjected his daughter to "multiple attacks" and terrorized her with threats that the cramped underground cell was rigged with booby traps to foil any attempts to escape. Fritzl also threatened to release poisonous gas into the homemade prison, the indictment said. It said the daughter was completely dependent upon Fritzl for her survival and had no choice but to provide "sexual services," the indictment added. The imprisoned children were forced to sew some of their own clothing from scraps of fabric, it said. Police say they have no evidence to suggest that his wife was complicit. His daughter, the children and Fritzl's wife have been getting counseling at an undisclosed location. The case drew international attention to Austria, in part because it was reminiscent of another high-profile imprisonment case. Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped as a 10-year-old while walking to school in Vienna. She was held in a windowless cell for 8 years but staged a dramatic escape in August 2006 while her captor was distracted by a phone call. Kampusch, now 20, is a TV talk show host. |
