In a stroke of brilliance, the jury today found Fritzl guilty of ALL charges and sentenced him to spend the rest of his days in a secure psychiatric facility.
The jury first convicted Fritzl of the murder of his newborn son – a child borne to him by his daughter Elisabeth in the dank cellar beneath his Austrian home.
The jury then convicted Fritzl of all charges relating to the imprisonment and rape of his daughter.
Fritzl had thrown himself on the mercy of the court this morning as he awaited the verdicts.
His voice weak and shaky, Fritzl told the court this morning: ‘I regret it with all my heart. … I can’t make it right anymore.’
Fritzl’s resistance finally broke yesterday after he came face to face at his trial with the daughter who suffered 24 years of rape and depravity in his secret dungeon.
Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, spent an hour watching her tormentor as her video-tape evidence was played in court on Tuesday, it emerged.
That night Fritzl called a prison psychiatrist and his lawyer to tell them: ‘I will change my plea. I am guilty of everything they say.’
Lawyer Rudolf Mayer said: ‘It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. My client was so changed, his mind, his behaviour, everything.’
Elisabeth’s arrival was completely unexpected given that she had said she never wanted to see her father again after being freed from her cellar prison in April last year.
Well done to the Jury, and the Judge, but most of all….Elisabeth.. you are an AMAZING woman. Your father couldn’t get a teaspoon half full of your strength of character or humanitarian spirit if he lived to be a million years.
Today, JUSTICE was done.
