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 06 July 2008 21:34 BST

Austrian cellar father 'had previous rape conviction'

Sunday, 04 May 2008 19:54
Josef Fritzl has previous rape conviction, sister-in-law claims
The Austrian man suspected of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and sexually abusing her had previously been jailed for rape, it was claimed on Sunday.

Josef Fritzl's sister-in-law told journalists that the 73-year-old spent 18 months in prison in the late 1960s for rape.

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency, the woman, identified only as Christine R, described her sister's husband as a "tyrant".

Mr Fritzl, a former electrical engineer from Amstetten, lower Austria, has already confessed to keeping his daughter captive in a cellar underneath the family home.

He told police in the hours after his arrest last week that he had fathered seven children with his daughter Elisabeth, now 42.

One of the incest-born children died shortly after being born, and Mr Fritzl has also admitted to throwing its body into a furnace.

His claims of fathering the six surviving children have been confirmed by DNA tests.

Austrian detectives have so far absolved Rosemarie Fritzl, Elisabeth's mother, of any blame, despite the fact her daughter and three of her grandchildren were living under her house for almost a quarter of a century.

Three of Elisabeth's children were either fostered or adopted by other families.

Christine R told the AP news agency that Elisabeth had run away as a 17-year-old six months before she disappeared and insisted her sister believed Mr Fritzl's story that her daughter had left to join a religious cult.

She said the whole family was scared of Mr Fritzl.

"When he said it was black, it was black, even when it was ten times white," she added.End of story


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