Josef Fritzl aged 73 is supposedly, “an emotionally broken man”, according to his lawyer, Rudolf Mayer. Josef came to be known to the world, last week, as the twisted father from Austria. He admitted to imprisoning his 18 year old daughter for 24 years so that he could sexually assault her; in his specially designed dungeon, in secret rooms, underneath the home that he shared with his daughter Elisabeth’s mother.
The man allegedly kept his daughter on a leash like an animal in that basement for the first nine months or so. Then, over the 24 years, he fathered 7 children with her. One of those children died days after birth and he put it’s body into the furnace. He “allowed” 3 of the children to be raised by himself and the grandmother; she believed her daughter ran off to join a cult when she was 18 and couldn’t care for the children.
The man was convicted of raping another woman when Elisabeth was about to be born. He served time for that offense about 18 months. After that time…he had been planning this dungeon with evil intent.
The lawyer claims that Josef is an emotionally broken man…and many would say, why should we care? We should care because this man is someone who could be studied to deconstruct the mind of someone so hideously mis-wired as to do this kind of harm to his own flesh and blood. We can learn alot from the workings of his mind; so that we could hopefully prevent this kind of tragedy from ever happening to another human being.
If they let this man off from serving the rest of his days in a prison somewhere because of his “brokeness” then, there is no justice. He has destroyed the lives of so many people. Elisabeth and her children will forever struggle just to heal from this scarring of their minds and bodies. Josef does not deserve to live out his remaining time on earth in a mental hospital.
We should care that he is broken only out of respect for those lives that he tried to destroy and control. They deserve to know that he is serving his time in a prison that he cannot escape from…just as he sentenced them when he was in control. I pray that somehow…they are able to heal enough to have some joy in life.
I must say that i am inspired by Elisabeth’s courage to survive all of those years. To care for her children the best that she could. Even now, she helped the authorities by going back into that place where he kept her imprisoned to help them to know more about this horror she lived for 24 years. May God bless her and the family.
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