London, Mar 16: As dungeon dad Josef Fritzl is set to go under trial today, his wife Rosemarie has for the first time given insights into her life after her husband’s arrest.

The 73-year-old Austrian engineer held his daughter Elisabeth captive in a dungeon beneath his home, raped her for
24 long years, and fathered seven children with her.

Soon after Fritzl’s secret life beneath the cellar was disclosed, his shattered wife changed her name and moved to a new town to try to escape the shame and infamy brought on the family through her husband’s misdeeds.

“I don’t know where I’m heading now. My life has already been ruined enough. I don’t have any money. My pride is all I have left, that and my family. All I want is to keep my family,” the Sun quoted Rosemarie as saying.

The 69-year-old lady rarely leaves her flat, screens callers through an intercom and has her groceries delivered.

She added: “People have said so many things about me, but I can’t speak.

"I just want to be left alone.”

Rosemarie only found out about her husband’s alleged crimes after his arrest last April.

And she now struggles to live on a tiny pension in a rented first-floor flat in Linz.

Her sister Christine, 65, one of the few people she trusts, said: “She is an emotional and physical wreck. She rarely leaves her flat, unless it’s to go for a walk alone. If she hadn’t the children to think of I don’t think she’d go on. She’ll never get over it, but I hope she finds a little peace.

She added: “Financially she’s struggling. Half her pension goes on her rent alone. She pays for everything herself. She changed her name last year and even had to pay for that. She doesn’t have anything to do with Josef anymore." (ANI)