Dad in rape case

A father has been charged with raping his biological daughter on multiple occasions over 21 years, in a case with similarities to that of Austrian fiend Josef Fritzl.

The 54-year-old Auckland man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, faces 10 charges, nine of rape and one of assault.

The charges cover a period from 1988, when his daughter was in her mid-teens, to last year.

The Herald on Sunday understands the accused fathered a child with his daughter and that several other pregnancies were terminated. The age and whereabouts of the child are unknown.

Most of the alleged offending is thought to have taken place in the family home.

The Herald on Sunday has also learned that during her teens, the daughter regularly slept rough to escape the alleged offending.

The head of the Auckland City police adult sexual assault team Detective Sergeant Andy King said he could not comment because the case was before the courts.

Child, Youth and Family would not say whether the child allegedly born out of incest had ever been a ward of the state.

The defendant has been remanded on bail to appear at a depositions hearing at Auckland District Court next month.

The world was stunned when Fritzl, 73, confessed to keeping his biological daughter, Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, locked in a windowless, underground bunker for 24 years as his sex slave.

He was found guilty of raping her about 3000 times and fathering seven children with her.

He was also found guilty of murdering his son Michael Fritzl, a twin, when he failed to seek medical assistance. Fritzl was sentenced to life inside a secure mental health hospital in Austria.