LIFE CYCLES

Josef Fritzl pleads guilty to incest and rape

JOSEF Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of locking his daughter Elisabeth in the cellar for 24 years, raping her and forcing her to have seven children, has told a court that he too was abused as a child.

"I had a very difficult childhood," Fritzl said in a trembling voice. "My mother didn't want me. She was 42 when she had me," the 73-year-old retired electrical engineer told the three judges and eight jurors hearing his case.
At the age of 12, when he made it clear that he would not tolerate being beaten any longer and would defend himself, Fritzl says he was then "Satan personified for her".
His relationship with his mother was never close, even though they shared the same house until her death in 1980. She never showed him any affection and his father appeared only "rarely and sporadically". Fritzl attributed his mother's coldness to her own childhood.
"Her life wasn't the best, either," he said.