Fritzl sentenced to life in prison in incest case

ST POELTEN – A jury has convicted Austrian incest father Josef Fritzl of homicide and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a secure psychiatric facility.

Fritzl also was convicted of enslavement, rape, incest, forced imprisonment and coercion for holding his daughter captive for 24 years and fathering her seven children.Fritzl accepted yesterdays verdicts and waived his right to appeal.The homicide count – ‘murder by neglect’ in German – was the most serious of the charges against 73-year-old Fritzl, and the jury gave him the maximum punishment allowed by law.The verdict brought a dramatic end to a case that has drawn worldwide attention.Josef Fritzl said yesterday he was sorry from the ‘bottom of my heart’ for locking up and raping his daughter in a cellar for 24 years as prosecutors demanded he be jailed for life.The 73-year-old Austrian, who fathered seven children with daughter Elisabeth, has pleaded guilty to incest, rape, enslavement and murder, by neglect, in the death of an infant son born underground in 1996.’I cannot do anything more about (what happened) … I regret this from the bottom of my heart,’ Fritzl said in his closing statement at his trial.Elisabeth’s lawyer said Fritzl’s remarks did not seem serious, suggesting he was only seeking a milder sentence.Under Austrian law, a guilty plea is not sufficient to convict someone.Fritzl reversed his plea and admitted guilt on all charges on Wednesday after being overcome watching daughter Elisabeth, now 42, describe her ordeal in 11 hours of video testimony.Defence lawyer Rudolf Mayer confirmed reports Elisabeth had attended the trial on Tuesday and said Fritzl was ‘devastated’ when he spotted her in the gallery as the video was being screened.Fritzl admitted enslaving Elisabeth in a purpose-built cellar under his house, and murder for the death of one of their babies by failing to seek help for his breathing problems.Under Austrian law, a confession can lead to a reduced sentence. The prosecution earlier asked that he be sent to a secure psychiatric hospital and the court could rule that he has to stay there indefinitely, regardless of his sentence.Mayer, who said he had nothing to do with the plea change, said Fritzl expected to spend the rest of his life incarcerated.In her closing argument, chief prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser said Fritzl had degraded Elisabeth to ‘a condition of total dependence and treated her like his property’.She said Fritzl committed murder because he had 66 hours to seek medical care for the infant son, whose breathing problems were caused in part by his umbilical cord getting tangled around his neck, but did nothing and consciously let the boy die.’He not only saw but listened to the death struggle of the infant – for 66 hours,’ Burkheiser said.Mayer argued that Elisabeth did not describe the newborn’s fight for life in the journal she kept in the cellar.Burkheiser also said Fritzl had demonstrated ‘unbelievable manipulation skills’, for example by luring his daughter into the cellar by pretending he needed help carrying a door.’Do not let yourselves be deceived as Elisabeth was 24 years ago,’ Burkheiser said, referring to Wednesday’s confession.Eva Plaz, Elisabeth’s lawyer, said Fritzl’s guilty plea should not be taken as a sign of remorse.- Nampa-AP-Reuters