Argentinian accused of fathering 10 children with own daughter

A 62-year-old man was arrested and charged with raping his daughter for more than 30 years and fathering 10 children with her, in a case "even worse" than that of Austria's Josef Fritzl in 2008, a judge said on Wednesday. "The accused denied the allegations but DNA tests have confirmed paternity," Judge Virgilio Palud told local radio.

The man has been charged with repeated sexual abuse and incest, crimes which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, he added. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was arrested in June for alleged cattle rustling, prompting his daughter, now aged 43, to report him to the police despite his threats of harm if she talked. The case was first reported on Wednesday.



The daughter, whose identity was also not released, claims to have been beaten and raped since the age of 13 at the family's home in the village of Nicanor Molinas, 600 kilometres (375 miles) north of Buenos Aires. She said the incestuous rapes resulted in 10 children, now ages seven to 27, and that only the eldest knows their father and grandfather are one and the same, Judge Palud said.

"It's even worse than what happened in Austria," he added, referring to the horrific crimes of Josef Fritzl, sentenced to life in 2009 for having kept his daughter imprisoned for 24 years, fathering seven children with her and killing one of them. In the Argentine case, one of the 10 children born of the rapes has already died. Judge Palud said another daughter of the suspect also claims to have been raped repeatedly by her father and to have had an abortion before she fled her home in the farming community of Santa Fe province.

Update: The father has now been named as Armando Gomez.