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Fritzl sentenced to life imprisonment

21:13 pm on 20 March 2009

Austrian Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter in a cellar and fathered her seven children, has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Fritzl, 73, was found guilty of all charges against him, including murder by neglect, enslavement, deprivation of liberty , rape, incest and coercion.

He told the court on Thursday that he accepted the verdict and would not appeal.

The court ordered that Fritzl should serve his life sentence in a secure psychiatric facility.

The BBC reports the murder charge related to neglect of one of the children, who died soon after birth.

Frtizl originally denied murder and enslavement but changed his plea to guilty after seeing testimony from his daughter Elisabeth.

Court officials said Fritzl would initially return to St Poelten jail, where he has been held in custody. He will then be sent to a co-ordination centre, where it will be determined how dangerous he is and whether he is able to undergo therapy, before going on to the psychiatric facility.

Fritzl imprisoned his daughter in a cellar under his house for 24 years and repeatedly raped her.

She and three of the children were kept captive in the cellar until the case came to light in April last year, when one of them became seriously ill and was taken to hospital.

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