Jury to hear from Fritzl's daughter
The jury trying incest rapist Josef Fritzl is due to hear more evidence from the daughter he imprisoned in a home-made dungeon for 24 years.
Fritzl pleaded guilty to rape and incest charges as horrific details of his family's suffering emerged on the first day of his trial in Austria.
The 73-year-old denies slavery charges and the murder of one of the children he fathered with his daughter.
Fritzl used his daughter Elisabeth "like his property" after imprisoning her in the cell under the family home, prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser told the court.
For the first few years he did not even talk to her. He just went to the cellar to rape her and left. After she gave birth, the rapes carried on in front of her children, Ms Burkheiser said.
She said Fritzl once punished Elisabeth by shutting off electricity to the dungeon underneath his house in the town of Amstetten, and forced her to spend the first part of her captivity in a tiny space that did not even have a shower or warm water.
"The worst was ... there was no daylight," Ms Burkheiser said, adding it was also "incredibly humid" in the cramped space and the air was stale.
Fritzl's entrance to the court in St Poelten, near Vienna, was the first time he has been seen in public since he was arrested last April. He walked in, flanked by guards, behind a blue folder to avoid his face being photographed.
Fritzl spoke in an almost inaudible voice as he gave the judge his name and other personal details. He eventually removed the folder from his face, but sat still in the dock, clasping his hands together, and stared straight ahead.
None of the victims is expected to appear in court. Instead, the eight-member jury will see pre-recorded video evidence from Elisabeth. A verdict is expected by Friday.
