AUSTRIAN FRITZL SENTENCED TO LIFE !

Fritzl's trial lasted four days

Austrian Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter in a cellar and fathered her seven children, has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Fritzl, 73, was found guilty of all charges against him, including rape, incest, murder and enslavement.

He showed no obvious emotion at the verdict, telling the court that he accepted it and would not appeal.

The court ordered that Fritzl should serve his life sentence in a secure psychiatric facility.

The judge said he could speak to his lawyer but he shook his head. Then he was led out of court with an impassive face.

Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said outside the court after the verdict: "He showed in his confession that he realises the dimension of his crimes and offences and as such the verdict is the logical consequence."

The life sentence was delivered for the crime of murder by neglect of one of the children, who died soon after birth.

The jury unanimously accepted prosecutors' arguments that the child could have survived if it had received medical care denied by Fritzl.

The defendant first denied murder and enslavement but changed his plea to guilty after seeing testimony from his daughter.

The BBC's Bethany Bell at the court says there has been an enormous amount of media interest in the trial, and its twists and turns have been enormous.

At the time of the first details of this case, no-one could grasp the extent of this man's crimes, she says, and Austria still has to come to terms with it.

Court officials said Fritzl would be sent first to a co-ordination centre, where it would be determined how dangerous he was and whether he was able to undergo therapy, before going to the psychiatric facility.

He could in theory be released from the facility if he is deemed to be cured of his illness and would serve the remainder of his sentence in a normal prison.

In this case he will be eligible for release after 15 years.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

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