15 years for incest rape in Austria

2011-04-08 09:23

Vienna - A 64-year-old man was sentenced to 15 years in prison by an Austrian court on Thursday, for brutally raping two of his daughters over several years, and fathering two children with one of them.

The man, who was not identified, was also ordered to pay respectively €99 000 and €19 000 to his two daughters, now aged 43 and 38.

Due to the nature of the case, the court proceedings, which lasted just two hours, were conducted behind closed doors, with only the verdict made public.

The sentence can still be appealed.

The man, who came from southeastern Europe but lived for years with his family in Austria's western province of Vorarlberg, sexually abused two of his seven daughters over a period of five or six years, each between 1984 and 1996, starting when they were just 16-17 years old, according to court sources.

Two children were born of this abuse: The first died a few months after birth, while the second was seriously handicapped and living with a foster family.

The suspect was finally brought to justice after his daughters filed a complaint against him in 1999.

An international arrest warrant was put out, as their father had returned to his home country, and he was finally extradited to Austria in April 2010 to face charges, Feldkirch court spokesperson Reinhard Flatz told the Austria Press Agency.

The man, who had no criminal convictions until now, said little in court on Thursday, but DNA results and his daughters' statements were enough for a conviction, the court ruled.

The case recalls the horrific Austrian incest case of Josef Fritzl, who locked his daughter in a cellar and raped her for 24 years, fathering seven children with her.

He was sentenced to life in prison in March 2009.

- AFP