ranasrule Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Mother kept girls locked away from the world for seven years Bojan Pancevski in Vienna Three girls who were imprisoned by their mother in a house of indescribable filth for seven years may never recover from the ordeal, experts said last night. The girls were shut away from the outside world, existing in almost complete darkness, playing only with mice and communicating in their own language. When they were discovered, their home in a smart, upper middle-class suburb had no running water and was filled with waste and excrement a metre high. The floor was corroded by mice urine. The case has stunned Austria, still reeling from the Natascha Kampusch kidnapping, and the authorities were struggling last night to explain how such a horror story could have gone unnoticed. Background The girls? ordeal was apparently sparked by their parents? divorce, after which their mother, a 53-year-old lawyer, suffered a breakdown. But she won custody of the girls ? then aged 7, 11 and 13 ? and withdrew them from school, claiming that she would give them private tuition at home. Her husband, a local judge in Linz, Upper Austria, named only as Andreas M, was not allowed to see them once, despite his claims for access reaching court nine times. The girls, Viktoria, Katharina and Elisabeth, were rescued only when police broke into the house after a neighbour, who had reported his suspicions several times, threatened a local council official with a lawsuit. Although that was in October 2005, and the three have been in a specialised therapy centre since, the scandal was only revealed at the weekend. The mother is now being held in a special remand prison branch for the mentally unstable. She will appear in court in a few weeks on charges of grievous bodily harm and torture, and is facing between five months and five years in prison. She had ensured that the blinds were constantly shut, and that all but one light bulb had been removed in the house. When they were released, the three victims had white skin and could not endure exposure to natural light. Authorities are now under fire for failing to have intervened sooner, despite repeated complaints by neighbours in the well-to-do Poestlingberg. The mother was said to have been summoned to court nine times during the seven years after complaints by the father and neighbours, but officials never found a reason to investigate the case more closely. Waltraud Kubelka, a therapist who is now treating the three girls, said that their psycho-social and physical development was ?catastrophic?. ?The oldest one is doing very badly and has no prospects of recovery. She was severely undernourished and practically anorexic after her release. The two younger ones will need years to come to terms with their horrific childhood. ?In the first weeks after their release they were hiding under a bench in the kitchen [in the therapy centre] because that was the darkest spot. They could not endure light . . . they had not felt sunlight or fresh air for years.? It is believed that the children had contact only with their mother during the seven years of captivity and, as a consequence, developed an almost unintelligible language of their own, described as a ?singing-like? form of German. Even after a year of therapy the oldest daughter, Elisabeth, now 21, is said to be so disturbed that she stands only on one foot for long periods staring at the floor. She often bursts into tears. She and her two sisters also reportedly finish all sentences with the word ?but?. But according to her carers, the youngest of the three, Viktoria, could soon be discharged from therapy to join her father, who now is in constant contact with his daughters. A council official said that authorities had had no knowledge of the ?truly catastrophic? conditions. The mother?s legal training and knowledge of the law has reportedly enabled her to postpone the trial. The case will he heard in front of a court in Klagenfurt in the next weeks, as both she and her husband are well known in the legal community of Linz. Natascha Kampusch was held for eight years by Wolf-gang Priklopil, before escaping. Priklopil snatched her on her way to school when she was ten and kept her captive in a subterranean dungeon under his house near Vienna for eight years. Professor Max Friedrich, a child psychiatrist who treated Ms Kampusch, said that the two cases should not be compared. ?This is entirely different, when the mother herself is the captor. It is tragic that the one person that commands full trust is misguided in that way. I do not envy their therapists.? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle1368918.ece simply amazing....very sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCobra Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 At the very least that woman should be locked away for the rest of her life in a small, dark and nasty room. I really hope this woman takes her own life. Say what you will but she abused children and should suffer for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Absolutely disgusting. And what's even worse: The mother is now being held in a special remand prison branch for the mentally unstable. She will appear in court in a few weeks on charges of grievous bodily harm and torture, and is facing between five months and five years in prison. At the very least, she should get 7 years for each of the children she kept locked up. I will never understand some people. -Spenser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdverseDeviant Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 only up to 5 years? at least give her max that is pathetic. if i was the judge id see to it that there was a work around to get this bitch life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadrack Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 very horrific read. she needs more then five years in prison, definitely. but she is such a disturbed individual that her conscience is probably a very adequate prison for her. good to know her children are now away from that, but it is something they now have for the rest of their lives. very sad. reminds me of the book/movie 'roses in the attic' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salis Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Horrible, I just cant imagine anyone doing that to anybody else, let alone a mother to her children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindscape Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 this is where i start to believe that the whole eye-for-eye thing is reasonable to say the least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dysphoria Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Burn her like in the good old times :devil: NO seriously if she was in the States she would be looking at life in prison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnerhkjp Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Damn. What to say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Ever seen the film The Virgin Suicides? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkcar Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 those poor children i cant imagine how they must feel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHaKi- Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Burn her like in the good old times :devil: NO seriously if she was in the States she would be looking at life in prison If she was in the US she would probably get killed and deserve it. (ZOMG I SAID SHE SHOULD DIE!?!!) but yes, that is inexcuseable...and of course its blamed on a divorce where the mother had a breakdown. GTFO.When they were discovered, their home in a smart, upper middle-class suburb had no running water and was filled with waste and excrement a metre high. The floor was corroded by mice urine. Thats just f'ing sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XerXis Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 this story has already been debunked in europe, it's just not true. Most probably the dad made it up and a journalist published it without checking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMELTN Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 I can not believe this really happens.. And much less by their own Mother. Absolutely sickening. You know the worse part is they will make a movie about this in the coming years, just to make money off of it. And I think the mom should serve some SERIOUS time here, not 5months to 5years.. more like 5 life sentences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XerXis Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/t...DMF12022007_040 translated dutch article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Burn her like in the good old times :devil: NO seriously if she was in the States she would be looking at life in prison And as soon as she made it there and other inmates found out what she had done, she'd end up dead. Good riddence. It sounds like Austria needs some serious revision of it's child protection laws. A neighbor could only get someone to investigate the woman after threatening to sue a local official? That's crazy. And the father, who was a judge, couldn't even see them once during the 7 years? Austria has some seriously screwed up laws. And Europeans are always bitching about OUR laws here in the States? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 this story has already been debunked in europe, it's just not true. Most probably the dad made it up and a journalist published it without checking Care to offer some proof of that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Drone Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 very horrific read.she needs more then five years in prison, definitely. but she is such a disturbed individual that her conscience is probably a very adequate prison for her. good to know her children are now away from that, but it is something they now have for the rest of their lives. very sad. reminds me of the book/movie 'roses in the attic' I think you mean 'Flowers in the Attic'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well... Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 To all of you saying she should be locked up: The article said she had a mental condition after which their mother, a 53-year-old lawyer, suffered a breakdown Consider she may have been doing what she thought was right or best. Therefore i Belive that the mother as well as the three girls needs attention and care - not a prison sentance! However without knowing all of the story including the circumstances of divorce it is hard to make an accurate judgment. Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XerXis Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Care to offer some proof of that? as i already said: http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/t...DMF12022007_040 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 as i already said: http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/t...DMF12022007_040 That babelfish translation makes almost no sense at all. Do you have any other sources for an English article talking about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McoreD Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I think you mean 'Flowers in the Attic'. Reminded me too of that book. Very disappointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
water.hammer Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 (edited) <snipp> Edited February 14, 2007 by Chad sexism and ignorance at it's worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadFerIt Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 (edited) <snip> Anyway, it's really shocking that humanity is capable of something so disgusting. I remember a story about this mother in the U.S. who constantly abused, tortured, and eventually murdered 2 of her 3 female children. And one of them was thrown in a closet until she died of starvation. And thought there couldn't be anything more sick and twisted then that, but here's this story.. I hope she has to live in the prison of her own mind for the rest of her life. And hopefully in an actual prison as well. Edited February 14, 2007 by Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Sure, the mother had a mental breakdown, but, she's using her LEGAL KNOWLEDGE to postpone, and delay the trial? She's over the breakdown, she KNEW DAMN WELL what she was doing, and she ruined the life of at least one daughter (article said she'd probably never recover) ... she needs at least life in prison with no parole ever at the least, or, death by radiation over a 10 year period at the most. I truely hope the two younger girls can come out of the shells they built, and become part of Civilization again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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