Daily Mirror

Exclusive: The TRUTH about sex beast Fritzl

COP BREAKS 9-YEAR SILENCE:

- BY MARK JEFFERIES Showbiz Editor

WHEN police first asked Elisabeth Fritzl for her story after 24 years’ captivity and rape by her evil dad, she said: “No one will believe me.”

the years and fathered seven children by her.

Her years of abuse finally ended when one of their children was taken to hospital and a nationwide appeal was put out for the sick child’s mother.

When Fritzl allowed Elisabeth to go to the hospital, claiming she had “returned”, suspicious police interviewe­d her and the tale of horror emerged at last. Psychiatri­st Dr Heidi Kastner, who interviewe­d Fritzl to assess if he was fit to stand trial, tells the documentar­y the predator believed he was “born to rape”.

“What he described with these rather blunt words was his need to dominate women, to dominate somebody. And to dominate the person sexually,” she says.

“And it was a need he felt, he couldn’t give a reason for that need but it was something that he knew was inside him.

“It was something that he had done before, and doing that had brought him to jail and he had decided not to go there any more, in a way that he could do it so that he wasn’t caught.”

Fritzl, now 82, was jailed for life in 2009 after being found guilty of murder over the death of one of Elisabeth’s babies, as

Her heartbreak­ing words are revealed by Willibald Reitner, who interviewe­d her when Josef Fritzl was arrested.

Mr Reitner – who is head of criminal investigat­ion in Amstetten, Austria where Elisabeth’s ordeal first emerged in April 2008 – has spoken about it for the first time in a Channel 5 documentar­y.

He says: “Elisabeth didn’t say anything. She said: ‘No one will believe me anyway’.

“Then we changed our tack and we told (her) ‘Well, maybe you are the victim?’ Suddenly Elisabeth had a different expression about her.

“After that she said, ‘If I tell this exactly how it all happened, no one will ever believe me’.

“Then Elisabeth put down some conditions, she didn’t want to see him again – she meant Fritzl. She never spoke about Fritzl, or her father, she always referred to him as ‘him’.

“And she was really afraid that no one would believe her, and that everyone would only believe the father.”

The story that then emerged was horrifying.

Fritzl had imprisoned his daughter when she was 18 years old, in a dungeon he built under his house – telling his wife Rosemarie and police that Elisabeth had run away with a cult.

In her undergroun­d prison he raped his daughter more than 3,000 times over

well as incest, sequestrat­ion and 3,000 counts of rape.

Elizabeth, now 51, reportedly lives with her six surviving children at a secret location in Austria.

She has never spoken publicly about her ordeal.

Asked what he thinks of Josef Fritzl, Mr Reitner says: “In this case you can’t speak of a human being.” The human touch, after decades at the hands of a monster, clearly had a powerful meaning for brave Elisabeth. She was so grateful for the care and support she got from police after her ordeal that she still keeps in touch with Mr Reigner, wishing him “all the best” at Christmas and Easter.

He says: “Shortly after finishing our enquiries, some months after, I received a letter from Elisabeth, the children and the grandmothe­r and these words really moved me.”

The letter reads: “If I may, thank you for helping us. You were there for us in a difficult situation. When we needed your support the most you took care of us, without great fuss.

“The experience of someone sticking by us, supporting us unconditio­nally, was like a gift to us. We are confident that we are not alone with people like you supporting us.

“We hope that you have someone supporting you, if you ever need help.”

Mr Reigner still reads the letter regularly. He tells the documentar­y: “Naturally, I think of Elisabeth. I think of what she went through and above all I think about her thinking of us.

“Because policemen like me are always dealing with bad things and these words are the best things that can come back to us. No award would ever be as valuable as these words.”

Fritzl: What Happened Next is on Channel 5 tonight at 10pm.

 ??  ?? Detective Willibald Reitner FRIEND
Detective Willibald Reitner FRIEND
 ??  ?? M0NSTER Mirror front page on Fritzl, May 2008
M0NSTER Mirror front page on Fritzl, May 2008
 ??  ??
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Fritzl raped Elisabeth over 3,000 times JAILER DAD
Fritzl raped Elisabeth over 3,000 times JAILER DAD
 ??  ?? Elisabeth was imprisoned for 24 years VICTIM
Elisabeth was imprisoned for 24 years VICTIM
 ??  ?? Dungeon under Fritzl home PRISON
Dungeon under Fritzl home PRISON
 ??  ??

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