Austrian incest suspect did not father children with daughters

Aug 26, 2011, 9:50 GMT

Vienna - An 80-year old Austrian who allegedly sexually abused his two daughters for 41 years apparently did not father any children with his victims, a prosecutor in the case said Friday.

The question of possible offspring had been raised in the media because of parallels with the case of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian who is currently serving a life sentence for fathering seven children with his daughter while locking her in his cellar for 24 years.

The new case came to light Thursday, when police confirmed that the daughters, now aged 53 and 45, had been regularly raped and beaten by their father Gottfried W since 1970 in their home in Sankt Peter am Hart in Upper Austria province.

When the slightly mentally disabled sisters were in elementary school, they were also allegedly abused by an acquaintance of their father, prosecutor Alois Ebner told Austrian press agency APA.

However, that crime could not be prosecuted under Austrian law because it happened too long ago, he said.

The suspect did not physically imprison his daughters, but severely limited their social contact and threatened to kill them should they talk to anyone, police said.

Gottfried W is in custody and has so far denied all allegations.

His daughters are in the care of local authorities.

The case came to light when the suspect tried to rape one of his daughters in May. She pushed him to the ground and let him lie there for two days before calling a social worker, who then alerted authorities.

The full name of the father and the names of the daughters were withheld under Austrian privacy rules.