Josef Fritzl's sudden guilty plea to charges of rape and murder was explained in court by his lawyer today: his resistance crumbled after he caught sight of his daughter Elisabeth during her secret visit to the courtroom.
Rudolf Mayer, who has received repeated death threats for his decision to defend the elderly Austrian engineer, told jurors: "It was a meeting of eyes that changed his mind.
"Josef Fritzl recognised that Elisabeth was in court and, from this point on, you could see Josef Fritzl going pale and he broke down."
The eight members of the jury withdrew this morning to decide whether the 73-year-old was guilty as charged of murder, incest, rape, sequestration, grievous assault and enslavement.
ritzl, who kept his daughter locked up in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children through repeated rapes, had pleaded not-guilty to the most serious charges - of murder and enslavement - in the apparent hope that he could get out of prison within a few years.
Yesterday, he changed his mind and told the court in St Pölten that he was guilty of all the charges against him - including one of negligent homicide for the death of a boy, Michael, who died soon after his birth in 1996. Under the Austrian judicial systemm, however, the jurors still have to agree on his guilt.
Fritzl today offered his first clear public apology for his crimes. "I am sorry from the bottom of my heart," he told the jury. "I cannot take back what I did."
In his closing statement to the trial, Mr Mayer said that the jurors should reject the murder charge despite Fritzl's change of mind because his client "didn't choose the way he is".
“Regarding the charge of murder, I don’t believe it was,” he said. “Attenuating circumstances must be taken into consideration. My client was responsible for his actions, but his personality has psychological abnormalities. He didn’t choose to be the way he is."
But the chief prosecutor, Christiane Burkheiser, warned jurors not to be taken in by Fritzl's contrition and asked that they recommend the maximum sentence of life in jail.
“Don’t believe him,” Ms Burkheiser said.“He’s shown his true face in trying to exploit people’s gullibility... It was murder by neglect and that demands the maximum sentence."
Mr Mayer, defending, told the court that Fritzl expected to spend the rest of his life in prison, even though under Austrian law a confession can lead to a reduced sentence.
source:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5937416.ece
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