He is now held in a special facility for 'mentally abnormal criminals' at Austria's Stein prison.įor the outside world, the first tangible signs of a return to something approaching a normal life occurred in late 2008 after Elisabeth and her children were deemed sufficiently recovered to be given a new home in 'Village X'. The court sentenced Fritzl to life imprisonment. Dr Adelheid Kästner, the psychiatrist who interviewed Fritzl extensively before the trial, concluded that his terrible experiences as a child at the hands of a brutal and unloving mother had driven him to want to 'control somebody completely.' That 'somebody' turned out to be his daughter Elisabeth whom he kidnapped and imprisoned in a cellar and began raping when she was 18, although the abuse started when she was just 11. A year ago last week, Josef Fritzl, then 73, was tried in a court in the Austrian city of Sankt Pölten where a jury found him guilty of mass rape, incest, wrongful imprisonment, coercion and murder by negligence. Two years ago she finally managed to escape the underground prison where, for almost a quarter of a century, she had lived alone and then shared with her three 'cellar children', Kerstin, Stefan and Felix, then aged 19, 17 and five. 'I was quickly surrounded by people who told me: they don't want to talk to you, they don't want to see you – please get out of here,' he said.Įlisabeth Fritzl's ordeal defies adequate description. 'There are only a few villagers and they are all in with the police,' recalled a photographer who was unfortunate enough to be sent on a mission to 'Village X' last month. In addition to security guards, the citizens of 'Village X' have formed a sort of Dad's Army to keep journalists and other sensation seekers at bay. The concern about security, above all the fear of an all-pervasive, ruthlessly prying media does not end there. The two-storey family home is kept under constant CCTV surveillance, and any strangers caught lurking nearby can expect to be picked up by the police within minutes.

The authorities’ interest in victim protection extends to a blanket ban in the Austrian press on naming Josef Fritzl’s daughter, their children or even the family name or face a €20,000 fine.She lives in a brightly painted house in a tiny hamlet which the Austrian media, when they mention it at all, refer to as 'Village X'. The closed-door proceedings in St Pölten, 65km from Vienna, have prompted unhappy reactions from hundreds of international journalists in the town. Two engineers who have inspected Fritzl’s dungeon are expected to confirm prosecution claims that heavy doors into the cellar could only be opened by remote control and combination lock from the outside.Įlisabeth Fritzl’s brother Harald may also testify in video evidence that reportedly confirms her claims that their father first began sexually abusing her when she was just 11 years old. The uncontested charges carry terms of up to 15 years, the two contested charges of enslavement and murder carry terms of 20 and life respectively.Īfter the eight-member jury finish hearing Elisabeth Fritzl’s evidence by tomorrow, the court will readmit the public and media for testimony from a paediatrician and a psychiatrist.

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