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Monster dad Josef Fritzl put on suicide watch

Updated on: 18 March,2009 09:21 AM IST |
Agencies |

He heard the testimony of his daughter, who he had enslaved and raped over 24 years, yesterday

He heard the testimony of his daughter, who he had enslaved and raped over 24 years, yesterday

Shameful: Josef Fritzl, who hid behind a file on the first day of the trial, showed his face in court yesterday. Pic/ap

"He [the psychiatrist] is now standing by in pauses during the court hearings," said Erich Huber-Gu00fcnsthofer.

Yesterday, Fritzl looked into the eyes of his daughter and former prisoner for the first time since she was freed from his Austrian dungeon.

Elisabeth, his 43-year-old daughter, stared out from a 26-inch TV set up in the courtroom and spoke during 11 hours of pre-recorded testimony about a quarter of century of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Fritzl.
"Fritzl watched the recordings with his full attention, I cannot imagine his emotional state," said court spokesman Franz Cutka.

As Elisabeth recounted her trauma, the tape was stopped and Fritzl was cross-questioned. The main aim of the proceedings was to address the most serious charge against Fritzl, that of murdering one of the seven babies he fathered with Elisabeth.

Elisabeth was repeatedly raped by her father and suffered from internal injuries as the result of his assaults. Fritzl has confessed to the charges of rape, coercion, deprivation of liberty and incest. He denies not only murder but the also the charge of enslavement.

The taped testimony has been introduced to spare Elisabeth the need to be in the same room as her father she vows that she never wants to see him again.

The court is racing through proceedings and the judges will probably be ready for sentencing by tomorrow afternoon.

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