Incest monster Josef Fritzl demands a house ‘with a basement’ if he wins bid for freedom
7 January 2025, 21:30
Josef Fritzl has demanded a house ‘with a basement’ if he is released from prison, as he continues to pursue an early release from prison.
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Fritzl, 89, is demanding a house with a basement if he wins his freedom, as his lawyers try to use his dementia as a reason to secure his early release from prison.
The convicted rapist infamously fathered seven children with his daughter Elisabeth over 24 years, while entrapping her as a sex slave for 24 years in the basement of their Austria family home.
Since he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 he has been held in high-security psychiatric detention at Stein prison.
But because of his dementia, doctors might declare Austria's most famous prisoners unfit for imprisonment next year.
His lawyer, Astrid Wagner, told German press that "every day he dreams of having his own house or apartment."
Ms Wagner told the 'Heute' talk show that Fritzl doesn't care where exactly his life will be "outside", though last year the criminal said he wanted to move to the UK and 'roam the highlands of Scotland'.
Ms Wagner added that the 89-year-old "no longer feels confident driving after so many years without practice," so he wants to live near a train connection.
But the main thing the rapist demanded was that "the apartment or house must have a basement."
The eerie demand, considering that he imprisoned his daughter in a basement for 24 years, is apparently so he can store his files and documents.
"You know, I have so many files, documents and memories," Fritzl said.
In fact, his cell is currently piled high with many folders and boxes filled with papers.
Last year, public officials in Krems, a town West of Austrian capital Vienna, confirmed Fritzl will be placed under guardianship due to his declining mental state.
This means the court will appoint someone to make decisions on Fritzl’s behalf after he has been deemed unable to make them on his own.
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But Fritzl’s lawyer, Astrid Wagner, informed Austrian media that she would be fighting the process as she considers the appointment of an adult to manage his affairs as “not tenable” - on the basis that he has no business to attend to and does not own any property.
Wagner says there is no necessity nor justification for appointing an adult representative, despite the fact Fritzl has “beginning dementia and delusional episodes”.
Fritzl has been transferred from Stein’s correctional facility to a cell in the normal prison following a decision by a three-member panel in the Krems Regional Court.
But the sex-offender pensioner was denied a general conditional release from normal prison in mid-May, with authorities deeming it “not possible for special preventive reasons”.
They said that “future freedom from crime” cannot be guaranteed due to the “unprecedented criminal energy in connection with the convicted crimes”.
Fritzl reportedly plans to move to the UK if he is ever released from prison.
“When I get released, it is not Austria I want to stay [in], rather I want to emigrate to the UK. Above all I want to roam free on the wild Highlands of Scotland,” he said according to the Sun.“
For me the lush green fields of Wales are also very, very appealing, but the main thing is it’s to the United Kingdom I am headed.”
Fritzl’s crimes involved rape, coercion and imprisonment, keeping his daughter and her children trapped in a basement for years as he raped her thousands of times.
Elisabeth was abused from the age of 11, and was locked in the cellar from the age of 18 until she was 42.
