Cellar father's pre-trial detention is extended

JOSEF Fritzl, the man accused of fathering seven children with a daughter he held captive in a cellar, was ordered to remain in custody yesterday.

The decision by an Austrian judge extends his pre-trial detention by a month. It was made in a routine, closed-door session required under Austrian law and will be re-evaluated in June.

Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said he expected the ruling and did not object to it.

Fritzl, 73, was formally placed in confinement on 29 April. He had been detained three days earlier on suspicion of locking up his daughter for 24 years and fathering her children.

Authorities say Fritzl confessed to locking up his daughter and repeatedly raping her. Investigators say he also said three of the children were raised in a cellar at his Amstetten home, three others were brought up above ground, and one died in infancy. DNA tests have confirmed Fritzl is the biological father of the six surviving children.

He is expected to be charged once investigations are completed. Meanwhile, detectives continue to comb the vast Fritzl property for evidence.