Josef Fritzl Pleads Guilty In Major Courtroom About-Face
In a change that can only be described as stunning, Austrian incest monster Josef Fritzl pled guilty to all the charges against him, including the murder of his infant son. Now that he has admitted to murder, it is very likely that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars:
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian engineer who held his daughter Elisabeth captive in an underground prison for 24 years, today admitted he was responsible for the death of one of the seven children he fathered with her.In a shock move on the third day of his trial, the 73-year-old calmly pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him, including negligent homicide and enslavement. He had already admitted four of the charges against him: incest, rape, coercion and false imprisonment.
For the first time since his arrest last April, he also expressed regret for what he had done.
Fritzl's lawyer suggested his change of heart came as a result of the psychological impact of yesterday's gruelling court session, in which he watched a recording of Elisabeth giving evidence.
"All I know is that he asked to see a psychiatrist in his cell [after hearing yesterday's testimony] and after that decided to give a full confession," Rudolf Mayer told the Guardian.
It was said that Elisabeth herself came to court to see her monster father one last time, despite giving videotaped testimony so that she would never have to see him again:
Responding to reports that Elisabeth had been in court in person yesterday and today watching proceedings from an adjacent room especially set up for victims of sexual attacks, Mayer said he could not confirm that because it would breach the rules of in camera proceedings."You can draw your own conclusions from that. I'm the wrong person to ask. If she was there [yesterday], it could have been the straw that broke the camel's back, in terms of his confession," he told the Guardian.
Today, a 30-strong scrum of photographers followed a van leaving the court after the case was adjourned. The vehicle reportedly contained Elisabeth.
Fritzl was said to have changed his mind about his plea after viewing video of his daughter detailing the extent of his abuses:
Opening the proceedings, the judge, Andrea Humer, said she wanted to return to Elisabeth's testimony from yesterday. Continued on the next page
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