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Author Topic: 'Victoria's Fritzl' on incest, rape charges  (Read 4452 times)
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klaasend
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« on: September 17, 2009, 01:24:33 AM »

http://www.theage.com.au/national/victorias-fritzl-on-incest-rape-charges-20090917-fryq.html?autostart=1

Revelations that a Latrobe Valley man fathered four children with his daughter in a 30-year reign of terror have rocked Victoria a day after the Ombudsman slammed the state’s record on child protection.

The man, in his 60s, is charged with multiple counts of rape and incest in a case that echoes Austria's Fritzl incest horror.

According to reports, the man raped his daughter almost daily for 30 years and fathered her four children.

(snipped)


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/man-accused-of-fathering-four-children-with-his-own-daughter/story-e6frf7jo-1225775361318

Calls for Minister to resign over case of man accused of fathering four children with his own daughter
Padraic Murphy, Stephen McMahon From: Herald Sun September 17, 2009 12:00AM

COMMUNITY Services Minister Lisa Neville is under huge pressure to resign after revelations of multiple bunglings by the child protection services including the shocking case of a man accused of fathering children with his daughter.

In a shocking case revealed by the Herald Sun this morning, the man is accused of keeping his daughter a virtual prisoner, raping her almost daily from when she was 11 years old.

The Opposition is expected to call for Ms Neville to quit in question time today following a litany of failings by Victoria's Department of Human Services to protect innocent children from falling into the hands of sexual predators.

Premier John Brumby said he was shocked by the the case, which he first learnt of when he picked up this morning's Herald Sun.

Mr Brumby said crimes against minors that occurred within a family were the worst possible crimes imaginable.

"I will get full advice and full reports from any relevant government departments that have been involved.

"Any crime against children, any crime against minors is appalling enough on its own, and then for any crime of this type to occur within a family, any crime of that type, speaking generally, is the worst possible crime you can imagine.

"Any crime that did occur in our state of this type would be met with the full force of the law.

"Speaking more generally if I could, any crime of this type is one that is shocking and is personally repulsive to me and to other Victorians."

He said the alleged crimes occurred under the watch of five or six state governments.

"We can never guarantee that every child at risk is going to get 100 per cent guarantees of safety,'' Mr Brumby admitted.

"But we can guarantee, I think, and we can aspire to make sure the best possible support is there and available to assist those families.''

But Opposition sources believe the huge number of bungling in child services over recent months makes it impossible for Ms Neville to continue.

The Premier held crisis talks last night to fix the child protection system after an Ombudsman's report released yesterday blasted the DHS for neglect and breaches of its duty of care that may have put children's lives at risk.

DHS staff failed to conduct proper background checks on a known sexual predator before allowing a child into his care.

This comes only months after a two-year-old girl was bashed and killed after police and DHS staff failed to intervene despite being told the little girl had black eyes from a previous beating.

Child welfare advocates are demanding a full inquiry into the horror sex case, with claims authorities failed to investigate the alleged abuse despite being warned years ago.

All four children were born with health problems in major Melbourne hospitals. None have fathers listed on their birth certificates, raising concerns about why questions were not asked at the time. One of the children died from severe developmental problems soon after birth.

Sources close to the case have compared it to that of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter and fathered seven children with her.

It could be "every bit as bad", a source told the Herald Sun. The woman and her three surviving children are in a safe house, being cared for by authorities.

Ms Neville said today the case would be investigated.


"I was extremely appalled to see the allegations,'' Minister Lisa Neville told ABC Radio today.

The minister said she had not been told of the case and would make it a priority to look into it.

"They are only allegations and are before the courts at the moment and we need to be very careful about how much detail we go into,'' Ms Neville said.

"I became aware of this from the media today and I don't know what, or if, (there has been) any involvement of the police, the department or other agencies ... over the past 30 years.

"This will be a priority to look into.''

The Herald Sun yesterday spoke to her mother -- the charged man's wife -- who claimed to be unaware of any abuse.

A one-time neighbour said she had her suspicions but "it wasn't anybody's business".

The man was charged in February, after his alleged victim approached police -- three years after she first alerted officers but said she did not want them to act because she feared for her safety.

It is claimed her father also threatened violence against her mother and siblings.

The man denied raping his daughter, but was charged after DNA tests allegedly showed he was the father of her children. He will appear in court in November.

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Tripitaka
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« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2009, 01:31:28 AM »

Wow - superquick!

Thanks Klaas.  I will try to keep this updated with any further reports..

I think it's the buck-passing and denial this case points to, that always highlights our ingrained lack of regard for child protection and welfare.

The great Australian saying: "She'll be right, mate"... NOT!

Not sure how many other down under monkeys there are here.  i'm sure there are a few.

If any are reading this: Hello to you.
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« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2009, 02:04:23 AM »

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/how-could-no-one-know/story-e6frf7jo-1225775361158

"How could no one know?

    * From: Herald Sun
    * September 17, 2009 12:00AM

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          o What are these?

HOW could it happen without someone knowing something?

How could it happen without a doctor, a teacher, a welfare worker, a neighbour or the police becoming suspicious?

How could it happen without someone, somewhere, wondering about children who seemed to have skipped a generation?

The horrifying accusation is that four children born in Melbourne hospitals were the offspring of a father and his daughter.

One of these sickly children of alleged incest died and although no father's name was entered on the birth certificates it has now been shown through DNA testing that they have the same father as their mother, whose torment started when she was 11.

She was supposedly a prisoner of fear. Fear for herself. Fear for her children. Fear for her mother and the violence her father allegedly said he would bring down on her if her daughter cried rape.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Decades passed. As reported in the Herald Sun today, it was only in February this year that the father was charged.

His daughter first walked into a police station in 2005 to ask for help.

Still his influence over her held sway. She did not want her father prosecuted, but she did want him stopped.

Last year, she summoned the courage to ask police to charge him.

The woman is now in her 40s.

People reading her story in the Herald Sun will be shocked and revolted to find the horrendous crimes they heard about in other countries may have happened here.

Crimes such as the thousands of rapes committed by Josef Fritzl against the daughter he imprisoned for 24 years in his house in Austria and where she gave birth to six children.

Also the kidnap of Jaycee Lee Dugard at the age of 11, coincidentally the age at which the allegedly incestuous rapes reported in the Herald Sun had their beginnings.

Jaycee Lee gave birth to two daughters to her kidnapper before her plight was discovered by chance. The crimes against her also went unreported.

The anguish of incest and imprisonment is unimaginable, as is the loneliness and the isolation.

Also the pain of knowing that, if you reveal what is happening to you, others may suffer.

The concept of evil becomes real when a monster such as Josef Fritzl is convicted of appalling crimes against his daughter.

So, too, in the case of the Victorian father accused of fathering four children with his daughter.

It is difficult to believe some people suspected what was happening behind closed doors, but kept their silence.

There are many questions that need to be answered. Here are just some of them:

WHY did welfare authorities not act?

WHY did health professionals not act?

WHY did teachers not act?

WHY did neighbours not act?

WHY did the police not act?

WHY did friends not act?


The answers to these questions may become known at a trial of the father. But what must happen immediately is for the Victorian Government to investigate why what happened in this family went unreported and unchecked for 30 years.

It is a public shame."


 
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« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2009, 11:59:54 AM »

It's hitting US media now too:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,551302,00.html?test=latestnews

Australian Child Services Uproar After Man Accused of Fathering 4 Kids With Daughter
Thursday , September 17, 2009


Australian Community Services Minister Lisa Neville has defiantly claimed she is "no quitter" as pressure increased for her to step down after revelations of multiple mistakes made by child protection services in a shocking abuse case.

In a shocking case revealed by the Herald Sun this Thursday, a man is accused of keeping his daughter a virtual prisoner, raping her almost daily for 30 years, starting when she was 11 years old.

Opposition leader Ted Baillieu slammed the minister for betraying Victorian's "sacred trust'' in her office and called for her to go.

The Brumby Government is reeling after a series of findings that have exposed major mistakes by the state's child protection services to look after the youngest and most vulnerable members of society.

An avalanche of questions in Parliament Thursday left Neville shaken but defiant that she would see through a reform of the state's welfare services.

She admitted to being "sickened'' by the allegations of incest and said Child Safety Commissioner Bernie Geary had begun an investigation into any contact arms of the state government ranging from the Department of Human Services to the police had with the family.

Premier John Brumby said he was shocked by the case, which he first learned of when he picked up this morning's Herald Sun.

Brumby said crimes against minors that occurred within a family were the worst possible crimes imaginable.

"I will get full advice and full reports from any relevant government departments that have been involved.

"Any crime against children, any crime against minors is appalling enough on its own, and then for any crime of this type to occur within a family, any crime of that type, speaking generally, is the worst possible crime you can imagine.

"Any crime that did occur in our state of this type would be met with the full force of the law.

"Speaking more generally if I could, any crime of this type is one that is shocking and is personally repulsive to me and to other Victorians."

He said the alleged crimes occurred under the watch of five or six state governments.

But Opposition sources believe the huge number of bungling in child services over recent months makes it impossible for Neville to continue.

DHS staff failed to conduct proper background checks on a known sexual predator before allowing a child into his care.

This comes only months after a two-year-old girl was bashed and killed after police and DHS staff failed to intervene despite being told the little girl had black eyes from a previous beating.

Child welfare advocates are demanding a full inquiry into the horror sex case, with claims authorities failed to investigate the alleged abuse despite being warned years ago.

All four children were born with health problems in major Melbourne hospitals. None have fathers listed on their birth certificates, raising concerns about why questions were not asked at the time. One of the children died from severe developmental problems soon after birth.

Sources close to the case have compared it to that of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter and fathered seven children with her.

It could be "every bit as bad", a source told the Herald Sun. The woman and her three surviving children are in a safe house, being cared for by authorities.

Neville said today the case would be investigated.

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« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2009, 05:49:57 PM »

And this girl's mother is where . . . maybe I'm wrong, but assuredly she knew what was happening.
 
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« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2009, 09:31:30 PM »

Hello and welcome to you Trip.  I am one of the down under monkeys - the Natalee Holloway case brought me here in the beginning.  I hope I can assist you in keeping this horrifying case up to date.

I tried to watch our TV news reporting on this last night but my DH was ranting so much at the TV set over the whole scenario of incest and the neglect by the officials that I missed most of it.  I did catch one of the public figures commenting that it is difficult to remove children from their parents.  For Pete's sake - what more do they need than the evidence and reports from the victim.  Even if she withdrew her complaint there still should have been inquiries made.  Also the fact that it took 2 years from when she left the home until this monster was charged.  What about protection for her siblings in the meantime?

Also if he raped her almost daily for 30 years I am sure there have been more babies born or miscarried and possibly even aborted in that time.

Lisa Neville is going to be crucified over this, and rightly so, but so should all the preceding ministers who have turned a blind eye to this and many other cases of abuse and neglect.

I am so angry about so many men and women in society that seem to regard it as their right to abuse and terrify anyone who is weaker than them or vulnerable in so many other ways.  Our laws should be changed from protecting the perpetrators to protection for the victims.  I am also on a rant about convicted paedophile Dennis Ferguson but I will leave that for a future post.
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« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2009, 09:33:28 PM »

Inside Australia's house of horror

Article from: The Daily Telegraph

By Padraic Murphy and Greg Roberts

September 18, 2009 12:00am

THE alleged victim of 30 years of horrific sexual abuse took a restraining order out against her father in 2007 - two years before he was eventually charged.

In the same year, state authorities had pursued the woman to pay for damages to a house she fled to escape her alleged attacker.

The shocking revelations come amid yet more claims that neighbours, who alerted police years before the man was charged, felt intimidated by the man.

"I was terrified of him," a former neighbour who helped the woman flee in 2007 said yesterday.

"One of the other neighbours phoned police years ago. I don't know what happened then. You have no idea what that family has been through, no idea.

"Something should have been done a lot sooner. A lot of people knew about this. There are people who should burn in hell."

The woman claimed she and another Good Samaritan removed the children from the La Trobe Valley while the alleged victim was being treated for a breakdown in 2007.

"They went to Melbourne and then DHS moved them . . . I've spoken to them and they are doing OK and just trying to get on with things," the Samaritan said.

In other developments:

* THE alleged victim spent several years in a children's home as a teenager in the 1980s while her father was treated in a psychiatric hospital;

* ONE neighbour who took the alleged victim to authorities in 2007 fled interstate in fear of the man;

* ANOTHER neighbour who told police about concerns was also in fear of the man;

* THE alleged victim had a breakdown in 2007, spending weeks in a Melbourne hospital; and

* EDUCATION authorities were warned about the father after the family were moved to the safe house.

"You have no idea what that family has been through, no idea," the Good Samaritan said yesterday.

"Something should have been done a lot sooner. A lot of people knew about this."

She said all the surviving children were withdrawn and had problems at school but flourished after they escaped the La Trobe Valley.

"If the authorities are saying they didn't know anything then that's bull. . . . They knew. She was getting counselling at one point," the Samaritan said.

News of the father's arrest sparked a heated political fight yesterday, with calls for Victoria's community services minister Lisa Neville to resign.

Ms Neville was forced to admit she was unaware of the shocking case until she read about in a newspaper report yesterday.

The case is being compared to that of Austrian Josef Fritzl, who fathered children with his daughter whom he had imprisoned for 24 years.

It is alleged all four of the Victorian woman's children - one of whom has died - were born with birth defects in major Melbourne hospitals and none had a father listed on their birth certificates.

Ms Neville said that as Community Services Minister she took responsibility for the case "and I am responsible for fixing the system and that's what I intend to do".

"I was not aware of this case until I saw it on the front page," she said.

"Of course, I was extremely distressed and sickened by it.

"When I spoke to the secretary and head of child protection (child safety commissioner Bernie Geary) they were not aware of the case."

In the Victorian Parliament, Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu called on Ms Neville to resign.

"I'm not a quitter and there is still work to be done," Ms Neville replied.

She said she had directed Mr Geary to investigate the case and what involvement the police, DHS, health professionals and other agencies had had with the family over 30 years.

She also said Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland had told her the police would co-operate fully.

"This is a terrible, sickening case, it is before the courts and I am confident that both the court proceedings and investigation by the child safety commissioner will help get to the bottom of what's happened over this 30-year period," Mr Overland said.

"I want to know who knew, what was done, I want to know what has gone on. Allegations of sexual abuse in families often remain hidden for years. It often takes victims to come forward in order for it to be brought to the attention of authorities."

Victorian Premier John Brumby described the incest allegations as "repulsive" and "the worst possible crime that you can imagine".

"Were a crime of that type to occur it would be met with the full force of the law," he said.

This latest scandal continues a horror year for child protection in Victoria. On Wednesday, Ombudsman George Brouwer blasted DHS for leaving some of Victoria's most vulnerable children in the care of convicted sex offenders.

Last month, a two-year-old girl from western Victoria died from brain injuries in hospital four weeks after she was allegedly beaten at home by her 26-year-old father.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26090355-953,00.html
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« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2009, 11:49:36 PM »

Hello and welcome to you Trip.  I am one of the down under monkeys - the Natalee Holloway case brought me here in the beginning.  I hope I can assist you in keeping this horrifying case up to date.

I tried to watch our TV news reporting on this last night but my DH was ranting so much at the TV set over the whole scenario of incest and the neglect by the officials that I missed most of it.  I did catch one of the public figures commenting that it is difficult to remove children from their parents.  For Pete's sake - what more do they need than the evidence and reports from the victim.  Even if she withdrew her complaint there still should have been inquiries made.  Also the fact that it took 2 years from when she left the home until this monster was charged.  What about protection for her siblings in the meantime?

Also if he raped her almost daily for 30 years I am sure there have been more babies born or miscarried and possibly even aborted in that time.


Lisa Neville is going to be crucified over this, and rightly so, but so should all the preceding ministers who have turned a blind eye to this and many other cases of abuse and neglect.

I am so angry about so many men and women in society that seem to regard it as their right to abuse and terrify anyone who is weaker than them or vulnerable in so many other ways.  Our laws should be changed from protecting the perpetrators to protection for the victims.  I am also on a rant about convicted paedophile Dennis Ferguson but I will leave that for a future post.

Hi Tibrogargan,

Very good to meet you here.

I stumbled upon Monkeys via Blink, around the time of Sandra Cantu disappearing earlier this year.

Our DHS is in a depressing state to say the least.

Yes, you raise issues I never considered in my anger at this situation... What if there are or were more children born to this man and his daughter...  My goodness!

How could this abused woman - even in her adulthood now, have been able to judge whether this man should be charged? How is that her call? She was "scared" of him when she first reported this abuse.  She was abused from the age of 11.  At that moment - that very first moment the line was crossed - her ability to judge for herself her own safety was taken away.  Her world view was skewed from that moment. 

The bravery this woman has shown on her own to report the crime initially, when others clearly turned a blind eye, despite decades of torment, is heroic to me.  She has been so let down.  And too her children who have been allowed to see this continue.  (And hopefully not abused themselves?)  She was scared because she felt she had no right to feel basic safety, because she'd been abused from such a young age.  Her self-assessment of her own safety should not have been acceptable to authorities at any point in time, and to me is not an excuse for charges to not be laid back in 2005.

I shudder to think how many similar cases there are to this one here in Melbourne, and other parts of Australia, just waiting to be unveiled.  And whether this case would have been reported on at all if there hadn't been attention focused earlier this week on Child Protection in Victoria. 

The Dennis Ferguson thing is just a mess too isn't it?  Where do you put him, but back in confinement at least for his own safety and for the peace of the community?  I imagine he will be chased around for the rest of his life.  A small price to pay really. 

The news coverage of this sort of crime (all child abuse and exploitation) in Victoria is well under-done.  And doesn't spark enough public uproar or outcry for my conscience.  I'd love for that to change. 

Great to meet you here and I hope to catch up when you're online sometime.

Thanks for posting in this thread. 


Trip.
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« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2009, 11:58:30 PM »

It's hitting US media now too:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,551302,00.html?test=latestnews

Australian Child Services Uproar After Man Accused of Fathering 4 Kids With Daughter
Thursday , September 17, 2009


Australian Community Services Minister Lisa Neville has defiantly claimed she is "no quitter" as pressure increased for her to step down after revelations of multiple mistakes made by child protection services in a shocking abuse case.

In a shocking case revealed by the Herald Sun this Thursday, a man is accused of keeping his daughter a virtual prisoner, raping her almost daily for 30 years, starting when she was 11 years old.




Thanks Klaas.

Good to know the news gets around. 

Thank you so much also for uploading my avatar. 
Must go find CBB and thank her too.. 

Thank you all for the work you do.

Trip.







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« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2009, 12:13:18 AM »

And this girl's mother is where . . . maybe I'm wrong, but assuredly she knew what was happening.
 

Hi Sister

Good to meet you.

From all reports, this girls mother lived under the same roof in what she claims was "a big house" for much of this time. 

I'm sure she knew what was happening.  If the neighbors suspected... then she must have been aware.

Abuse suspicions were raised 30 years ago.  She was aware of this, yet had no idea, until they arrested her husband just this year?

Perhaps, that the authorities did not act on these suspicions, is what led her to believe there was nothing to be concerned about?

Denial of the worst kind.  Denial led by denial.

Thanks for your comments.

Hope to catch you when you're online soon.

Trip.
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« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2009, 12:39:29 AM »

And this girl's mother is where . . . maybe I'm wrong, but assuredly she knew what was happening.
 

Hi Sister

Good to meet you.

From all reports, this girls mother lived under the same roof in what she claims was "a big house" for much of this time. 

I'm sure she knew what was happening.  If the neighbors suspected... then she must have been aware.

Abuse suspicions were raised 30 years ago.  She was aware of this, yet had no idea, until they arrested her husband just this year?

Perhaps, that the authorities did not act on these suspicions, is what led her to believe there was nothing to be concerned about?

Denial of the worst kind.  Denial led by denial.

Thanks for your comments.

Hope to catch you when you're online soon.

Trip.

Trip, welcome.  I came here via the Sandra Cantu case.  Although this man is assuredly a monster, it amazes me, and not in a good way, that the spouses, mothers, grandmothers don't defend their children.  I guess she was frightened too -- but holy cow . . .
Now I'm off to bed, past my bedtime as I am on the east coast of the US.
Blessings.
 
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« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2009, 06:25:18 AM »

Just doing a drive-by to post this latest report giving more information on this family and their warped existence.  I hope they charge the mother as well, at least for neglecting to protect this girl, as it would not be possible that she was aware of what was happening.


Dad controlled freed 'incest victim'

Stuart Rintoul | September 18, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

A MAN accused of raping his daughter almost daily from the age of 11, fathering four children with her over decades of sexual abuse, had a powerful emotional hold over her long after she left the family home.

A former friend and neighbour told The Australian she had long suspected the young woman's father was the father of her children. She said that, when he visited them, in the Latrobe Valley town of Morwell, the children called him "Daddy".

She told how the young woman would refuse to go out without her father's permission, saying: "Oh no, I've got to do what Dad tells me."

"And then one day I was out the front and one of the kids said, 'Daddy, can we go up the road and ride our bikes?'," the former friend said. "I thought, 'Daddy?' It didn't sound right to me. That's not a normal sort of thing. It was on the grapevine that he was ... the daddy, of all the kids."

The former friend said the young woman, although then aged in her 30s, was "only a kid in her mind".

"To me, she never had a life," she said. "Her dad was the domineering man over her."

As rain poured down in the several Latrobe Valley towns where the family lived, long associated with deep social and economic challenges, there was anger and dismay yesterday when it was revealed that, in February, as bushfires burst into flame across Victoria, the man, now aged in his 60s, was arrested and charged with sexually abusing his daughter, who is aged in her 40s, over several decades.

The rapes were alleged to have begun in the 1970s when the victim was about 11 and continued until 2007. The girl gave birth to four children, allegedly fathered by her father. All were born with health problems in major Melbourne hospitals. None had fathers listed on their birth certificates, raising concerns about why questions were not asked at the time. One of the children died from severe developmental problems soon after birth.

After being arrested, the man denied raping his daughter, but was charged after DNA tests allegedly showed he was the father of her children. He will appear in court in November for a plea hearing. Initially facing 83 offences, he now faces 13 charges: five of incest, five of rape, two of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 16 and one of assault. It is understood that during a County Court hearing last month, he indicated he would plead guilty to 13 charges.

The man is on remand awaiting trial. His wife continues to live in the Latrobe Valley. Their daughter and her children are believed to be in a safe house.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said it was among "the worst sort of sex cases, the worst sort of abuses". He said people would have "recoiled in horror" when they learned of it.

For several years the family lived in the town of Moe in a red brick housing commission house. Police will allege abuse occurred here. The house has four bedrooms, including two rooms at the back and one to the side where children would normally sleep.

"It's disgusting to me," said Molly, who now lives in the house with her family. "The idea that there was someone trapping his daughter there and having kids with her ... I hope they lock him up for life for what he did."

Former neighbour Jeanette lived alongside the family in Moe for several years, but said she had no inkling of the abuse, although she rarely saw the children outside the house.

Jeannette said: "If I had have known, I probably would have said something."

The man is understood to have six children with his wife. Two reportedly died of cot death and one drowned. In 2005, after being encouraged by a neighbour, the man's daughter approached police in Morwell, but refused to press charges, apparently fearing for her safety and the safety of her mother and siblings.

The case was yesterday compared to Austria's house of horror where Fritzl held his daughter Elisabeth prisoner in the basement of his house for 24 years, raping her constantly, resulting in seven children and one miscarriage.

A similar case was discovered last month in the US state of California, when Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy were arrested and charged with keeping Jaycee Lee Dugard as Garrido's sex slave for 18 years. Garrido began raping her when she was 11 years old and fathered two of her children.

But there are significant differences in the cases, including the Victorian woman being allowed to move out of the family home with her children.

Aged in her 30s, 12 or 13 years ago, she lived in Morwell with her children and her brother for at least two years. After that she is believed to have moved back into her parents' home, which by then was in another Latrobe Valley town, where her mother still lives and where her father was arrested in February.

In Morwell, it was suspected by some neighbours that the young woman and her brother were involved in an incestuous relationship. She was remembered from that period as being "dumpy", with curly long brown hair. She would wear hippy-style clothes.

One neighbour said her housing commission home was flea-ridden, but that her children appeared happy and attended the local school.

She said the woman's grey-haired father would visit regularly and it was obvious to neighbours that "he ran the house" and it appeared the man's wife and daughter were afraid of him.

Neighbour Lynne remembered asking the young woman to go to the bingo with her. "When I went over to visit, when I said to her 'do you want to go to the bingo?', (she said) 'Oh no, Dad won't let me'. I thought, 'Dad won't let you?' and you're in your 30s? It didn't make sense to me."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26089463-601,00.html
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« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2009, 09:30:17 PM »

Brother of alleged incest victim died 'in suspicious circumstances'

By Padraic Murphy and Matt Johnston

Herald Sun......September 19, 2009 12:01am

THERE are new claims a brother of the woman allegedly abused for 30 years by her father died suspiciously - but police refuse to say if the death will be investigated.

The shocking new development in the horror case revealed by the Herald Sun on Thursday comes as the State Government announced an extra $77 million package to tackle child abuse.

A brother of the allegedly abused woman said the family suspected the drowning of their brother was "suspicious".

The child drowned at a suburban Melbourne beach more than 30 years ago, the Herald Sun reports.

The woman has also told friends she believed her sibling died suspiciously.

Her brother said yesterday: "I don't like talking about it because I can still remember him. I wish he grew up, but let's just say there were a lot of suspicious things about it.

"It was a long time ago, I don't know what the police think about it."

Two of the accused man's other children with his wife, both girls, suffered cot deaths - now termed sudden infant death syndrome.

Police refused to say if the drowning death would be investigated.

"Due to the amount of information provided, our avenues of inquiries are limited and we are unable to establish confirmation of the allegations," a spokeswoman said.

She added: "Due to the current suppression order in existence it would be inappropriate to provide any information surrounding this."

The Herald Sun understands a file detailing the family's extensive history with authorities is being collated.

One source said the file made "horrendous" reading.

Ian Hopley, a former Victorian detective who now runs Cacet Global, a child safety consultancy, said: "What we need is a fully independent examination of all the facts of this case.

"This will show us where the system has broken down and where it can or should be improved."

The surviving children spent time in care, and at one point the alleged abuse victim was a ward of the state.

Premier John Brumby announced desperate new measures to try to stem the problems in the child protection system, but the new package was immediately criticised by children's groups as inadequate.

Mr Brumby pledged $77 million over four years to improve the child protection system, by recruiting an extra 200 staff over four years.

"We can never guarantee the safety of every single child in the state, but I think the key task here, after all of the things we have been doing, (is that) we accept there are still failures in the system, that we need to do more, and today's package pumps more money in," Mr Brumby said.

"We have to lift the number of staff and we have to give them more support in the field. That's what this package will do."

The new package will introduce 101 new front-line professional child protection workers, a specialist intervention team with 15 senior workers to tackle protection troublespots, and a $2.8 million recruitment drive for experienced staff.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26095370-421,00.html
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« Reply #13 on: September 20, 2009, 11:18:26 AM »

This is sick. I hope this bastard burns.  That being said....

 I don't know why the hospitals (notice plural) should be responsible for not asking questions.  Babies are born everyday in every hospital without a father.  My god daughter had her father there when she was born and he signed her birth certificate but her two older sisters by the same father there at their births and he did not sign theirs.  I know if the hospital had asked my why my sons father didn't sign his birth certificate and wasn't there when he was born and who he was they would have gotten a tongue lashing that would have made them remove me from the hospital or sedate me and put me in a mental hospital.  The medical personnel are there to take care of our bodies.  Unless the victim reaches out for help or they see marks that are clearly from abuse it is not any of their business what goes on in our lives.  That is jmo, and I don't want to take away from the case itself in any way because it is terrible but trying to place blame everywhere does nothing but make excuses and I for one hate to think that more of our personal lives will be open to the world just because some sick pervert had kids with his kid and the hospitals didn't question why there was no father.
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