Fritzl's daughter leaves clinic

[Adsos Letter]

Source: BBC/Europe

An Austrian woman allegedly held as a sex slave by her father for 24 years has left the clinic where she had been recovering since being freed in April.

Elisabeth Fritzl and the six children allegedly sired by her father had moved into their own house, her lawyer said.

Josef Fritzl faces trial in early 2009 on charges of kidnapping Elisabeth, now 42, when she was 18 and holding her captive in a bunker in his back garden.

He is also charged with slavery, rape and the murder of one child.

That child - his seventh with Elisabeth - was born in the underground chamber in Amstetten, west of Vienna, but died in infancy.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7804031.stm

---

This was/is a horrific story...there are really no words to comprehend the suffering and criminality here.

What is justice in cases like this?

[Adsos Letter]

1. Anyone have any insight as to how society achieves "justice" in a case like this?

[Triana]

2. I would chemically castrate the man and forbid him to ever be near

children again for the remainder of his life. But - that's just me.

[Adsos Letter]

3. It's a tough question...

I've been thinking a lot about what "justice" means, and how it can be achieved in society...no easy answers, and this case reminded me of it.

Thanks for being brave enough to volunteer a response. :hi:

[Triana]

4. I guess I think more in terms of future prevention...

...than "justice". I'm not sure "justice" could ever be attained for something like this.


EDIT: I LOVE your sigline! Hahahaa!!

[earcandle]

5. Do Unto Others... Enslave him at San Quentin

He has to do for others, what he made his daughter do for him.
 Only in-mates need apply. 

Wow!  She has six kids by him?  Whoah...  that is really
trippy. There is nothing to be done about that, but respect
their vulnerability and help them start up their lives again
on their own.  

I remember reading once in some book in school for psych class
regarding abused women, and this book said there were some men
who actually believed that no one had a right to tell them
what to do with their property, and that included wife and
kids.  Also, that quite a few rural families have fathers who
feel it his right to do what he will with his daughters, not
even his wife: it is nobody's business.  And he would kill for
that right too, believing God gave it to him. 


Glad to be a city girl.   

[sandnsea]

6. If we don't retain our humanity

in serving justice, then we aren't doing justice to ourselves. Life in prison so he can't hurt anybody else. And a lifetime of help and therapy for all his victims. Wouldn't we all be better off if we spent as much money helping victims recover as we spend exacting "justice"?

[Berry Cool]

7. That is probably the closest we can come as human beings to justice.

There is no way to make him truly know the suffering he dealt out to his own flesh and blood. The only thing that can be done is to confine him from the rest of society and find a way to help his chief victim, and the victims he brought into existence, live the best lives they can now.

I can't even imagine what it would be like to know that my siblings and I owed our existence to my grandfather raping my mother. My mind just boggles.

[caseymoz]

8. The man is really warped.

He said he kept Elizabeth imprisoned to save her from immorality:

"Ever since she entered puberty Elisabeth stopped doing what she was told, she just did not follow any of my rules any more. She would go out all night in local bars, and come back stinking of alcohol and smoke . . .

“She even ran away twice and hung around with persons of questionable moral standards, who were certainly not a good influence on her. I always had to bring her home, but she always ran away again. That is why I had to arrange a place where I gave her the chance - by force - to keep away from the bad influences of the outside world."

Apparently for him, raping his daughter was better than having her become immoral !!!

He has also said that he knows he's not normal and wants therapy to become a better person and understand why he did these terrible things.

Where was that desire 24 years ago? He has been using the language of addiction to try to explain away things which are just monstrous.

Unfortunately, he may die before he stands trial.

[lolly]

9. Controlling her sexuality

As contradictory as they may seem, the obsession with her "morality" does indeed fit in with the incestuous rapes.

The issue is the control of her sexuality--as the poster above mentioned, she is HIS property, and he decides what happens to it. Seeing the possibility that she might decide on her own what to do with her body enraged him.

And, in a slight change of subject, this is why I get so nauseated whenever the "Purity Ball" season comes up--there's always a thread about it on DU, and an occasional poster will ask "what's wrong with a father being involved in his daughter's life?"

I don't think it's ever healthy for a father to be obsessed with his daughter's sexuality--it's part of a need to control her.

[caseymoz]

10. I agree that the obsession with her morality fits with incestuous rape

What gets to me is that he talks about it as though it was a normal concern and his measures were logical, when both were anything but.