Austrian incest father pleads guilty to all counts

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
In a stunning turn of events, an Austrian on trial for imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children pleaded guilty Wednesday to all charges against him - including negligent homicide - after hearing his daughter's heart-wrenching testimony. Saying he had a change of heart, Josef Fritzl calmly acknowledged his guilt on the third day of a trial that has drawn media attention from around the world for its shocking allegations. "I declare myself guilty to the charges in the indictment," Fritzl, 73, told a panel of judges, referring at one point to what he called "my sick behavior." Fritzl faces up to life imprisonment on the negligent homicide count for the death of a twin baby boy, which he initially had contested along with an enslavement charge. Prosecutors also had charged him with rape, incest, forced imprisonment and coercion.