captive since the day I was born

Unless you're a deep sea clam, it’s impossible to have not heard something of the recent incident in a small town in Lower Austria. Nearly one week later, and having spoken to many people about the subject, I still find it hard to come to terms with and have spent a good few nights thinking about it last thing before falling asleep. It seems useless to speculate on facts which we are slowly being fed each day by police investigations and the media because every day we hear something new or different, which may or may not change the odd detail, but I suppose that, in time, we will know everything. Whatever we hear, however, doesn't change the fact that it is a cold, evil and calculating mind that would have been needed to have been able to carry out such an act. To be able to live out, effectively, two completely separate lives without one consuming the other or even 'leaking' into it is beyond the comprehension of most people.

Now that the initial shock of it has worn off (albeit only very slightly), and following the sense of complete dispair of what happened and what the future might hold for the victims, one moves on to thinking of what should be done with such a person (or persons). Something that I find equally hard to come to terms with is how it seems (if the newspapers are relaying this fact correctly) that this man will only serve 15 years in prison. He might die there, in which case he won't even serve the whole term of his sentence, or if he survives the term, he will be free again. Many people live to be 88. It’s not so unusual. So, whichever the outcome, how exactly will he have paid? How could he even come close to paying? He has not just stolen 24 years from his daughter; he has stolen time from his children/grandchildren too. If one does the maths, he has stolen a total of 66 years from these innocent people. How can that ever be replaced? I just hope that the youngest of the children (5 years old) will have less memory of the events, due to his age, and be able to live a normal life in time, but of the other children... one of whom might not even survive her coma, how will they cope? how will they even begin to start a normal life? Not content with emotionally scarring them, this man has left them with the physical appearance of people 30 years their elder.

So what can be done? Death seems like a soft penalty, and at the same time, if we would prefer him to live and suffer for what he has done, are we not somewhere on the way to sinking to this man's level? And if he were to begin to show remorse, what would that do for anything now? I can't see how it could make anything better. Like all of these cases, we all want to get into this evil man's mind and somehow see how he works and find reasons for his actions, even to make him see the error of his ways, but the sad truth is that we will never get that satisfaction. And, more sadly, neither will his victims.

Something that I find very chilling about this case is that Elisabeth was said to have been put in the cellar on the exact day that I was born: 29th August 1984. In that time I have lived a childhood, been to school, travelled to many countries, met wonderful people, graduated from University and started my first proper job, but in between all of that, just experienced the sounds, sights and smells which are a product of a good and ordinary life. Well, like most other people, I am sure that I will continue to digest, with great interest, every single piece of information that the media gives me.