horror in Austria. update

The beginning of this story, where a father kept his daughter, Elizabeth (her picture from years ago below) in a windowless cellar for 24 years and had 7 children with her is here.

The update below is taken from here.

19 year old Kerstin is in a critical state, her predictions to survive are slim.

Josef Fritzl is being connected with 3 other rape cases back in the 60-ties.

The colour blue; birdsong, moving traffic and the rustling of leaves: all that and much more is alarmingly new for two of the Austrian children who have spent their lives locked in an underground bunker.

Bernhard Kepplinger, the supervising doctor for the Fritzl family – the three relatively well-adjusted children who were brought up above ground and the three from the cellar – is more cautious: “Each child will need individual therapy and we should be careful not to overdo it.”

One problem has been separating the two boys from their mother, Elisabeth. “They were probably overprotected by their mother in the cellar,” Dr Friedrich said.

Elisabeth, 42, had to shield them from the sexual abuse of her – and their – father, Josef. When they heard the sounds of their father having sex with their mother they would retreat to one of the bedrooms and watch television to blank out the noise. Now, influenced by so much television, the children’s view of the world is two, rather than three-dimensional.

The youngest boy is given the best chance of recovery because of his relatively short period in the dungeon. He is curious rather than threatened by the outside world. When he was first taken out of the cellar he asked a policeman: “Is that God up there?” pointing at the sky.

The older boy reportedly has problems with balance and co-ordination.

The hospital lifts have been frightening for the boys. When the doors close, they panic: fears of the cellar dungeon are still very fresh.

The younger boy is said to be confused by the ringtones of mobile phones. As for the older one, he has grown to adolescence in the improvised prison created by his father. The television has given him some idea about cars, computers and politicians, but it is all very abstract.

Some things are familiar – the smell of food from the cooking ring – and the psychiatric team is trying to build on the recognized sensations while extending his range.

Never in modern Europe has there been a case of such sustained sensory deprivation. Even Natascha Kampusch, who escaped from her kidnapper 18 months ago, spent part of her captivity upstairs, was allowed occasionally into the garden and was even taken on a trip to the mountains by her abductor. Moreover, she was already 10 years old when she was first kidnapped, already quite articulate, able to read and write and aware that she was a captive. None of the cellar children were told they were prisoners; Elisabeth presented their cellar existence as normal life.