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Police: Austrian children kept in dungeon were in 'oppressive' conditions

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Saturday, May 3, 2008

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Police in Austria have reported that the situation in the cellar where people were illegally imprisoned for over two decades is 'oppressive'. They have also said that they cannot stay in the cellar for more than one hour. AP reported that this is because there is a low oxygen level in the cellar.

The location of the cellar

This announcement by the police comes after police in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten arrested a 73 year old man who is alleged to have kept his daughter, now aged 42, locked in the cellar of his house in Amstetten since August 29, 1984.

Amstetten Hospital, where 19 year old Kerstin Fritzl arrived ill, and from which the authorities learned of the case

The man, identified by police as Josef Fritzl, is alleged to have started sexually abusing his daughter, named as Elisabeth Fritzl, when she was eleven years old, and to have subsequently fathered seven children by her. One of the children, one of a set of twins born in 1996, died of neglect shortly after birth and the body was burned by the father. The surviving six children, three boys and three girls, are currently aged between 5 and 20 years old. Three of the children were left on Josef F.'s doorstep and subsequently raised as the adoptive children of Josef F. and his wife, Rosemarie, while the other three children were left with their mother and never saw daylight until she was discovered. Rosemarie F. is said to have been unaware of her husbands' activities.

Police became suspicious when a 19-year-old daughter, Kerstin, was taken to hospital with a mysterious life-threatening illness, and the family's medical records were checked. Police say that Elisabeth F. appeared to be "greatly disturbed" psychologically, and only agreed to talk after the authorities assured her that she would not have to have contact with her father, and that her children would be cared for.

The local authorities have recently released a statement regarding these incidents, an English translation of part of which is available below:

The tragedy involving the family has Amstetten has made its citizens deeply shocked and shaken. Our sympathy goes exclusively to the victims of this crime. To restart the family into the "life" to allow security the city are aiming to provide financial resources to the victims.

The municipality has now set up a donations account for the victims.

The news has shocked Austria, as has its similarity to the case of Natascha Kampusch who was kidnapped aged 10, and escaped after being held in a "dungeon" for eight years in 2006.



Sources

  • Austria cellar probe 'oppressive' — BBC News Online, May 3, 2008
  • Spendenkonto "Zuversicht" — Amstetten, May 2, 2008 (German)
  • Daughter in cellar for 24 years — The Press Association, April 27, 2008
  • Veronika Oleksyn. Austrian woman says father held her in cellar for 24 years — Associated Press, April 27, 2008
  • Bojan Pancevski. Austrian woman was 'imprisoned by father for 24 years' — The Times, April 27, 2008
  • Heinz-Peter Bader. Austrian woman says imprisoned, abused for 24 years — Reuters, April 27, 2008


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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
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