SOURCE

Mother kept three daughters isolated for seven years

Linz, Austria (dpa)- A 53-year-old woman from Linz in northern Austria kept her three daughters locked up in a house neglected and completely isolated from the outside world for seven years, the Austrian paper Osterreich reported Saturday.

According to the newspaper report, the woman succeeded in keeping the three girls in complete isolation from 1998 to 2005 when the authorities moved in and took them into care.

The girls, now aged, 14, 18 and 21 are still traumatized and are receiving psychological help, Austria radio reported Saturday.

According to the report, the girls' mother has been on remand, but was due to appear in court soon.

The custodian of two of the girls, Margreth Tews, appealed to the Austrian media on Saturday to allow the girls some privacy.

This was their last chance to lead a normal life, she told the Austrian press agency APA.

It was still not clear why it took social workers and the authorities so long to remove the girls from the house, which was in kept in a derelict state, the report said.