Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Austrian admits 24-year abuse of daughter in cellar

redAPPLE said:
this is why i hate cops first. then lawyers.

but again, how could the wife not notice ANYTHING? 24 fooking years. that is almost as unbelievable as the crime itself.
Click to expand...

There are two considerations:

1) She is slow in the mind and oblivious to everything
2) He is really just short of a criminal mastermind and had this down to an art

Chances are if he kept this secret for 24 years, it's more of the 2nd. Crazy people can't do this. He is (in)sane. He knew what he was doing and was "normal" enough to keep it up for that long. I hope he rots.
 
Well, he is said to be very intelligent but also archaic. Nobody dared talking back to him or even asking questions about what he was doing. Also, nobody was allowed to enter the room with the door to the "prison".
 
ergdegdeg said:
Well, he is said to be very intelligent but also archaic. Nobody dared talking back to him or even asking questions about what he was doing. Also, nobody was allowed to enter the room with the door to the "prison".
Click to expand...

Not to trivialise… but a true life Bluebeard? weird.
 

Attachments

  • 6723.jpg
    6723.jpg
    49.8 KB · Views: 58
Yeah, BS on the insanity defense. :mad: He knew damn well what he was doing and took careful measures to ensure he could continue doing one of the most vile and disturbing things one could imagine for 24 years to his own daughter. It's beyond comprehension.
 
iBlue said:
Yeah, BS on the insanity defense. :mad: He knew damn well what he was doing and took careful measures to ensure he could continue doing one of the most vile and disturbing things one could imagine for 24 years to his own daughter. It's beyond comprehension.
Click to expand...

Humanity seems intent on continuing to find more inventive and disturbing ways to hurt others in such a way as to shock the world. It's pathetic.
 
It's interesting that the Austrian government seems to view this as damaging to their national image...maybe it's a European thing, but I don't attach a nationality to the crime.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
It's interesting that the Austrian government seems to view this as damaging to their national image...maybe it's a European thing, but I don't attach a nationality to the crime.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And all the stories say that there's such "shame" in the community and in the country as a whole that nobody saw this coming. How could you?! They can't hold themselves responsible. He kept it hidden from his wife for 24 years - why on earth would they feel ashamed that none of them suspected this man kept a secret cellar where he confined his daughter and grandkids/kids? There were letters from the daughter and plausible explanation. He planned it out to make sure there were no questions. They are taking too much responsibility for someone else's actions.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
It's interesting that the Austrian government seems to view this as damaging to their national image...maybe it's a European thing, but I don't attach a nationality to the crime.
Click to expand...

neither do i, but its also probably because of the case last year or the year before with similar undertones/actions
 
skunk said:
At the risk of invoking Godwin, I'd say that Austria had a lot worse to be ashamed of...
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but there is such a thing as reconciliation. It's true that the cultural impact of the past can persist for generations. Perhaps the Austrians are more sensitive to the concept of national disgrace/shame because of this past. This does not, of course, mean that they are guilty as a nation - at least not as I see it.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
It's interesting that the Austrian government seems to view this as damaging to their national image...maybe it's a European thing, but I don't attach a nationality to the crime.
Click to expand...

well you have to understand that this is in a country with a very heavy focus on tourism so the national image is very important

after all there around 20 million tourists visiting every year (same scale as russia mexico and nearly on par with germany) which means around 2.5 tourists/year per inhabitant
 
newappleboy said:
I hope he rots.
Click to expand...

So do I.

Lord Blackadder said:
It's interesting that the Austrian government seems to view this as damaging to their national image...maybe it's a European thing, but I don't attach a nationality to the crime.
Click to expand...

newappleboy said:
Agreed. And all the stories say that there's such "shame" in the community and in the country as a whole that nobody saw this coming. How could you?! They can't hold themselves responsible. He kept it hidden from his wife for 24 years - why on earth would they feel ashamed that none of them suspected this man kept a secret cellar where he confined his daughter and grandkids/kids? There were letters from the daughter and plausible explanation. He planned it out to make sure there were no questions. They are taking too much responsibility for someone else's actions.
Click to expand...

I think it's just something that happens especially in places that aren't great big cities, smaller places where people tend to know each other better and be more involved in each other's lives, people (normal, balanced folks who are capable of compassion at least), feel just devastated that they'd never noticed anything and sort of tried to process it, whether there was anything they could have done to prevent or stop this.

I hope they lock him up somewhere with a bunch of regular criminals, so they can go on and do away with the evil thing, so the austrians don't have to pay for his upkeep. Seriously, I'm afraid his victims don't have a chance of resting easy so long as he's alive, makes me thinl they'll always be afraid :(

This whole story is just seriously scary.
 
...received a letter from her saying they should not search for her.
Click to expand...

WTF?! I can just imagine the letter. "I may have gone missing, but I'm okay. Just don't search for me or ever communicate with me again." What parent wouldn't be suspicious after that?!
 
Makes me wish my grandfather had been kind enough to bring me flowers and watch videos with me while I was locked in the cellar.

Oh...wait...my grandfather never locked me in a cellar. He played board games with me in the living room with sunlight coming in through the windows and even took me to the park sometimes to let me run off my energy. That is a good grandfather.

This man is nothing short of a sadistic monster and I can't imagine any punishment that will ever make him understand what he deprived all of them of all these years.
 
Fritzl Charged with Murder

The Austrian father who allegedly imprisoned and abused his daughter for 24 years has been charged with murdering one of their seven children.

The charges against Josef Fritzl, 73, carry a prison sentence of ten years to life in prison.

Mr Fritzl is also charged with slavery and rape. If found guilty, he faces 20 years in jail on those charges.

He has been in custody since the case came to light in April and a trial is expected to begin early next year.

Mr Fritzl fathered seven children with his daughter Elisabeth in a cellar at his home in Amstetten, west of Vienna.

Last month he was cleared as mentally fit for trial.

The state prosecutor's office in the town of St Poelten said Mr Fritzl was being charged with murder in connection with the death of his seventh child, who died in the cellar in 1996 shortly after birth.

Austrian prosecutors say the newborn died because Mr Fritzl failed to seek help, even though he was aware that the baby might die.

Mr Fritzl had told police that the child, one of twins, had been born dead and he had burned the body in a stove.
Click to expand...
BBC.
 
iBlue said:
he's not getting what he deserves by a feckin long shot, but he isn't getting away with it, which is better than nothing, of course. It is an incredibly messed up story. :(
Click to expand...

I guess you put it better by saying that he's not getting away with it. I do agree he deserves a lot worse.
 
Abstract said:
The guy deserves more than 20 years in prison for each crime. That doesn't even match the 24 years his daughter was kept in the dungeon, which is also a prison.
Click to expand...

The only problem with the situation is that no matter how many years he gets sentenced, he will most likely die in the next 10 years because of his old age. I would say give him the death penalty, but he probably deserves to be locked up in a cellar like he did to his daughter and the rest.
 
He will likely die in prison and given the heinous crimes the man committed I don't expect prision to be an easy ride.

It is a truly sad story and will go down in history one of the most extreme crimes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back