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 07 September 2008 03:38 BST

Fritzl says daughter imprisoned 'for her protection'

Thursday, 08 May 2008 19:31
Josef Fritzl says he kept daughter Elisabeth in cellar for 24 years to protect her from outside world
The Austrian man suspected of keeping his daughter captive as a sex slave for 24 years has said he had her best interests at heart.

In a statement relayed through his lawyer, Josef Fritzl claims he locked up his daughter Elisabeth, now 42, in 1984 to stop her from going off the rails.

"I needed to create a place in which I could at some point keep her away from the outside world, by force if necessary," Mr Fritzl told Austrian magazine News through his lawyer, Rudolf Mayer.

"She did not obey any rules, she hung around in dodgy bars all night, drank, smoked."

Police claim Mr Fritzl has confessed to fathering seven children with Elisabeth, who he kept imprisoned underneath the family home in Amstetten, lower Austria.

Three of the children were released and adopted by the former electrical engineer and his wife, Elisabeth's mother, Rosemarie, while one died soon after being born and had its body thrown on to a furnace by Mr Fritzl.

On Friday Mr Fritzl is expected to appear before a local judge who will rule whether to extend his custody.

The alleged perpetrator of what has been dubbed as Austria's greatest crime is yet to be formally charged with any offence.

In his lawyer's statement, Mr Fritzl acknowledges what he subjected Elisabeth to was wrong, but claims he was suffering from an "addiction".

"I knew Elisabeth didn't want me to do what I did to her. I knew that I was hurting her. It was like an addiction," he said in the statement. "In reality, I wanted children with her.

"I knew the whole time that what I was doing was not right, that I must be mad for doing such a thing. But despite this, at the same time it became completely matter-of-fact for me that I had a second life, which I led in the cellar of my house."End of story


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