May 7, 2008
From the BBC:
Police say Mr Fritzl, 73, incarcerated and raped his daughter Elisabeth in his cellar in Amstetten in Lower Austria.
A relative of Mr Fritzl says he was convicted of another rape in 1967.
In a television interview for the Associated Press, Mr Fritzl’s sister-in-law, identified only as Christine R, describes Mr Fritzl as a tyrant and said “I believe he spent a year and half in prison” for the conviction.
Josef Fritzl’s sister-in-law talks about the family
Police have declined to comment on the allegations, saying records that old would have been erased under Austria’s statutes of limitation.
Under Austrian law convictions can be expunged after as little as five years.
‘Diminished responsibility’
Mr Mayer has said that if, in his opinion, a psychiatric evaluation of Mr Fritzl ordered by the court does not give a proper assessment of his client he will consider ordering a separate report himself.
“In my personal opinion, Josef Fritzl is mentally ill and therefore of diminished responsibility. I believe that my client does not belong in prison but in a secure psychiatric unit,” Mr Mayer told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
He added that he is “not defending a monster but a human being, even if that is hard to take for some people. I am already receiving threatening letters saying that I belong in the cellar with Mr Fritzl.”
Police say Elisabeth bore her father seven children – three of whom remained incarcerated with her, never seeing daylight until they were released earlier this week.
Mr Fritzl, who is in custody, has confessed to the crime in a written statement.
He is refusing to answer any more questions, as police try to piece together conditions in the cellar – as well as the suspect’s life.
Mr Fritzl’s alleged crimes came to light when Elisabeth’s eldest daughter Kerstin, 19, became seriously ill.
She was allowed out of the cellar and admitted to hospital in Amstetten.
Police then issued an appeal to Elisabeth Fritzl to contact them about her daughter, and later picked up Mr Fritzl and Elisabeth near the hospital.
Elisabeth and the children are now in care with the Austrian authorities, who are protecting their privacy at a psychiatric clinic.
Kerstin is fighting for her life in hospital.
what about the mental illness his daughter had went through by his hands? i think he needs to go to jail for a long time.
I don’t buy the “diminished resposibility” b.s. I think insanity is the easiest way for anyone to make sense of this man and other child abusers, but I just don’t think it’s that simple. I wonder how many more cases like this there are in the world that have not received such international media exposure.