Image: OON
It was the dramatic case of incest that caused a stir and consternation far beyond the country’s borders in 2008: for 24 years, the Lower Austrian Josef F. locked one of his daughters in a cellar dungeon of his house in Amstetten. The father raped the young woman countless times and fathered seven children with her. In 2009, F. was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to an institution for mentally abnormal criminals at the Krems-Stein prison.
Now there is a new psychiatric report on the now 88-year-old – and this could now lead to his transfer, his Viennese lawyer Astrid Wagner told the OÖN yesterday.
“No longer dangerous”
The report was commissioned in response to her complaint, said Wagner. The renowned Linz court psychiatrist Heidi Kastner was then commissioned by the Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG). “She came to the conclusion that Josef F. can no longer be classified as dangerous due to his dementia”said Wagner, who wrote a book about F. last year. No more criminal acts are to be expected. In addition, there would be a physically weak condition. Kastner herself was unable to comment on this yesterday, as she told the OÖN.
- more on the subject: The victims of Amstetten: A life in freedom thanks to a new identity
F., who has since changed his name, is “not completely gone”you can usually “talk to him normally”says Wagner. But then it always happens again “surprising topics”for example, he says that his daughter is now in a relationship with the former German tennis ace Boris Becker.
Now the court must decide based on Kastner’s report what to do next with the prisoner. But one thing is certain for Wagner: “He can by no means be placed in the normal prison system, Dr. Kastner, because he would go under.”
This step has been the subject of legal assessments several times in recent years. In 2022, the Vienna Higher Regional Court spoke out against this and determined the need for further accommodation after the Krems Regional Court had previously decided otherwise.
Accommodation in nursing home
Instead, a transfer would be needed “into adequate accommodation for a dementia patient with cognitive and physical training”says Wagner, “but I doubt that the judiciary has the resources”. In any other case, says the lawyer, he will “In my opinion he should be fired”. “And my goal is also for him to go to a nursing home afterwards.”
The 88-year-old has the requirements for release, says Wagner: According to the law, you can be released conditionally after 15 years, and F. has already served this. “And he is no longer dangerous and he regrets.”
The prison court – in this case the Krems Regional Court – regularly checks whether the requirements for placement in the prison system are still met. This check to see whether the requirements are still met is required by law.
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Source: Nachrichten
