Father in incest case admits to some charges

ST. POELTEN, Austria — An Austrian who fathered seven children with a daughter he held captive for 24 years refused to even speak to her for years, coming into the squalid cellar only to rape her, often in front of the youngsters, a prosecutor said Monday.

Hiding his face behind a folder as the trial began, Josef Fritzl pleaded guilty to incest and false imprisonment, but he denied enslaving his daughter Elisabeth or murdering her newborn son.

He pleaded only partially guilty to additional counts of rape and coercion.

A court spokesman said the partial admission of guilt for coercion was because Fritzl acknowledged he told his victims the cell was rigged to emit toxic gas if they tried to escape, but denied issuing other threats.

The 73-year-old Fritzl faces up to life in prison if convicted of the negligent homicide charge, which stems from the death of the 2-day-old baby boy, who investigators contend might have survived if he had gotten medical care. Incest, by contrast, carries only a one-year sentence.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser portrayed Fritzl as a callous and contemptuous captor who held his daughter in a filthy cramped cellar that didn’t even have a shower or warm water and repeatedly raped her in front of the children.

At other times, she said, Fritzl punished his daughter by shutting off the electricity — plunging the dungeon cell into darkness for days at a time.

Burkheiser said Elisabeth was “broken” by Fritzl’s actions and the uncertainty of her fate and that of her children.

Three of the youngsters grew up in the underground room in the town of Amstetten, never seeing daylight. The other three were brought upstairs to be raised by Fritzl and his wife, Rosemarie, who was led to believe they had been abandoned by Elisabeth when she ran off to join a cult.

Fritzl’s lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said his client regretted his actions and insisted he was “not a monster,” even bringing his captives a Christmas tree.