17 March 2009

Frying Friztl

al-Jazeera has an article about a guy who, hopefully, will be killed in prison:
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who held his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathered her seven children, has appeared in court for a second day. Fritzl (pictured hiding his face behind a folder) has pleaded to incest and false imprisonment.
The court is expected to view video testimony from Elisabeth, Fritzl's daughter, which is being shown in short instalments over the course of the trial. Fritzl, 73, pleaded to incest and false imprisonment on Monday, but is contesting charges of negligent homicide and enslavement. The prosecution has accused him of murder for letting a baby die shortly after birth in 1996. Fritzl said the baby was stillborn and that he burnt the body in a furnace. The case is being heard at a court in the town of St Poelten, near Vienna. A verdict is expected by the end of the week.
During Monday's opening statements the prosecution said Fritzl had used Elisabeth, who is now 42, "as a toy". But Fritzl's lawyer said he had only wanted a second family to the one he already had with Rosemarie, his wife. Fritzl attempted to paint himself as a victim of family neglect during his own childhood.
If found guilty of murder by the jury, he could be given a life sentence or 10 to 15 years in prison. His lawyer said the defendant expects to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
A retired engineer, Fritzl built a soundproofed cellar with a reinforced door under his home in the provincial town of Amstetten. "He shut Elisabeth away in the cellar and made her totally dependent on him, forcing her into sexual acts and treating her as if she was his own property," his chargesheet said. Fritzl's daughter and her six children, three of whom were shut away from birth, are now living in a secret location under new identities. The case came to light when one of the three children who had never seen sunlight, 19-year-old Kerstin, fell seriously ill and was taken to hospital by Fritzl.
In comments via his lawyer last year, Fritzl said he had lived a "second life" in the cellar complex, watching adventure videos with the children and bringing flowers for Elisabeth, who cooked dinner. Three of the children born in the cellar were raised above ground by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie after he pretended Elisabeth had abandoned them. Police say that Rosemarie did not know of her husband's actions.
Rico says the guy is 73, so fifteen years could be a life sentence, but hopefully another prisoner will do the right thing and shank the guy...

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