Cellar horror is evil...but good will always win

4:03pm Thursday 1st May 2008

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By Jack Straw »

I am sure everyone who has seen and read the news reports about the extraordinary case of the Austrian women Elisabeth Fritzl has been as shocked as I have by the story.

My heart goes out to her and other victims of this case, and to the people of Amstetten, who have to come to terms with the fact that this terrible business was going on for so many years without anyone having any idea about it.

I doubt there is anyone reading this who isn't aware of the case. This poor woman was kept in a cellar by her father for 24 years. The man's wife appears to have been completely unaware of this, having been told that Elisabeth had run away and joined a cult. The abuse involved her giving birth to six of his children, three of whom had never seen daylight until last week. It is a story so horrific it is barely believable.

Thanks to the way in which the media is now a 24-hour, seven days a week global business, there can be few people on the planet who haven't heard about these events since they were revealed last week. I met someone who has just returned from a holiday in Barbados - lucky man - where it was the talk of the bars and beaches.

I suppose that is a reflection on the way the world has changed. The revolution in communications, with the internet, text messages, cable and satellite television, means that within minutes of a story like the Amstetten case "breaking" it is beamed to every corner of the globe.

What a contrast with the dark secrecy with which Josef Fritzl appears to have been able to control his family for so many years.

One can understand why the mayor of the town said, at a candlelit vigil for Elisabeth attended by several hundred people, that he wants to "show that Amstetten is not a town for criminals".

I am sure that he and the people of the town will succeed.

Places affected by other dreadful crimes, Dunblane or Hungerford for instance, do find a way to move forward - the memory does not fade, those adversely affected are always remembered, but evil is not allowed to overcome.

Quite rightly in cases such as that in Amstetten, people ask themselves and the authorities how it is that such events are able to take place. Could more have been done to prevent this kind of horrific case?

I am sure there will be a thorough inquiry in case there were warning signs which the authorities might have picked up, or might have missed, or whether there was action they should have taken.

Of course, as with all such appalling crimes it is important for the authorities to learn lessons from this case.

But we must also face an unpleasant truth: that while such crimes are incredibly rare, there are some members of the human race who have the most terrible capacity for evil.

It is a sad reality, though we can take comfort from the enduring truth that while such evil is undeniable, it is always outweighed by the strength of human good.