Incest victim forgives father

SAO PAULO - A woman whose father is accused of imprisoning her for 12 years and fathering her seven children says she forgives him - and worries how she will care for her offspring if he is jailed, police said.

Lead investigator Adriana Meireles quoted the 28-year-old woman as saying she never rejected her father's advances because she feared he would abandon her and the children.

Farmer and fisherman Jose Agostinho Pereira, 54, is accused of keeping his daughter a virtual prisoner since 1998 in a thatched-roof hut outside a tiny fishing village. It is in a remote area in Brazil that can only be reached by canoe.

Pereira is also accused of abusing two of the children he had with his daughter.

Police say Pereira started sexually abusing the daughter after his wife left him, when the child was 12.

Police believe the pair's four daughters and three sons range in age from 2 months to 12 years. Exact ages are unknown.

Pereira claimed from jail that his daughter consented.

Another of Pereira's daughters, 31, told police he raped her and fathered a son about 17 years ago.