A father’s incest shames Austria

This is unspeakable and unbelievable, yet it is true. A man managed to lock up his daughter for more than twenty years in the basement of his home, and fathered his own grandchildren in Austria.

Josef Fitzl, aged 73, is a total disgrace not only to Austria, his country, but also to the entire face of the earth. Appearing in court earlier today, he pleaded guilty for incest and raping his child, Elizabeth, who had seven kids as a result. However, he denied murdering one of his children and enslavement.

Although the press is doing as always, the best it can to expose demoralizing news such as this, one has to admit that we certainly live in a sick world. Day after day, people even those who look fairly decent, are capable of causing pain which could make others shake their heads in shock. Sadly even as we speak it is just a matter of time before another scandal gets uncovered.

Strangely enough, just last November, it was unveiled in Britain that a 56-year-old businessman from Sheffield kept his two daughters captives for 25 years and fathered nine of his own grandchildren. It is believed that he was moving them around houses in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in order to avoid any detection. That explains why this news incited the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to warn that there was “a lesson to be learned” due to the fact that the police and social services had failed to monitor that case.

Still amidst such chaotic and despicable stories, witnessing nations are usually ready to raise their fingers and judge the failed government. Nevertheless, we remember the bad guy easily, but when it comes to the poor victim, our memory of them and their pain often evaporate as swiftly as we turn the page of a newspaper.

According to experts, a father is supposed to be the first portrait of ‘real love’ in a girl’s life. As incest robs the pure bond between two relatives, one can only wonder what it would take to recover from such horrific damage.