Austrian Accused of Incest

An elderly Austrian was in custody Sunday, accused of fathering several children with his daughter and holding her in a cellar for 24 years, police said.

Police in Amstetten said the 73-year-old suspect had not formally responded to the allegations against him, the BBC reported.

The woman’s plight came to light after her 19-year-old daughter became sick and was taken to a hospital, the British network said. The woman, now 42, was believed by authorities to have been missing since 1984 and sexually abused since she was 11.

Police believe the man fathered at least seven children with his daughter, with one dying in infancy, the official Austrian news agency ORF reported on its Web site. Three children were allegedly kept in the windowless cellar with their mother while the others reportedly were raised by grandparents. The three boys and three girls range in age from 5 to 20, police said. The man’s wife lived with him but apparently was unaware of the circumstances, ORF reported.

DNA testing was expected to be conducted to establish whether the suspect is the children’s father.

They are all in psychological care in a secure institution in a clinic here in this area, police spokesman Franz Polzer said.