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mog
Seasoned Reporter
United Kingdom
232 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 18 2008 : 12:31:14
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Kate Connolly in Berlin guardian.co.uk, Monday June 16 2008
The wife of Josef Fritzl has visited the dungeon where he kept their daughter imprisoned for 24 years to collect personal items for her daughter and grandchildren, the Austrian authorities said.
Rosemarie Fritzl, 69, received police permission to return to the family home, which is still a crime scene, for the first time since details emerged of the secret family her husband had kept beneath their home.
She arrived at the house late last week, along with a plain-clothed female officer in a red VW Golf. Police who are standing guard round the clock at the house in Amstetten, Austria, opened a gate to let the car through.
Dressed in a pale blue blouse and beige trousers, Fritzl spent around 40 minutes on the property.
She emerged with two suitcases and a large bag full of clothes and toys for her daughter Elisabeth and her six children, all fathered by Josef Fritzl. Rosemarie Fritzl is living with Elisabeth and the children in a specially built apartment in a nearby psychiatric clinic.
"A request was made to be able to enter the house and was granted," said Gerhard Sedlacek, spokesman for the state prosecution service of St Pölten. He said that it was the first time any member of the Fritzl family had returned to the house since the horror story came to light at the end of April. He added it was likely that the house would be destroyed as no one now wanted to live there.
Rosemarie Fritzl is understood to have taken with her a list of requests for specific items which Elisabeth and the "cellar" children, Felix, five, Stefan, 18, and Kerstin, 19, who emerged from an artificially induced coma and returned to her family for the first time last week, were missing.
She also went to her house to pick up items of clothing for herself and the three children born to Elisabeth and her father - Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12 - who were brought up upstairs. Psychiatrists are attempting to bring the two sides of the family together.
Fritzl is still in custody in St Pölten and faces possible charges of rape, imprisonment and incest. A spokesman for the state prosecutor said last week he may go on trial later this year.
More details of the children's recuperation were revealed yesterday. Kerstin is said to be making a good recovery from an illness that nearly killed her. Felix is still wearing sunglasses as his eyes get used to UV rays, and the children who lived in the cellar are being taught how to climb stairs. Their favourite part of the clinic is said to be its botanical gardens.
Rosemarie has denied any knowledge of her husband's double life and investigators say they have no reason not to believe that she is telling the truth.
About this articleClose This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Monday June 16 2008. It was last updated at 15:23 on June 16 2008.
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Rosemarie Fritzl visits husband's dungeon
