FRITZL ADMITS RAPE... BUT BLAMES HIS MUM

"The worst was there was no daylight," Burkheiser said, adding it was also "incredibly humid" in the cramped space and the air was moldy and stale.

As he made his way into the courtroom in St Poelten, west of Vienna this morning, Fritzl bizarrely covered his face with a ring-binder in an attempt to shield himself from the world's media.

Local journalists fired questions at accused Fritzl, but he refused to answer and instead kept his head hidden behind the folder.

Dressed in a tweed jacket, suit and tie, Fritzl quietly gave his name and other personal details to the judge.

The cellar where Elisabeth and her children were held captive

His lawyer Rudolf Mayer admitted his client was nervous, but insisted he was "not a monster."

In an attempt to appeal to the jury, Mayer said: "If you just want to have sex, you don't have children.

"As a monster, I'd kill all of them downstairs."

He added that Fritzl even brought a Christmas tree down to his captives in the cellar.

Fritzl, who locked his daughter Elisabeth in a windowless dungeon beneath his house, has confessed to her imprisonment, where he raped her repeatedly.

But he denies the murder charge, which relates to a baby boy he fathered with daughter Elisabeth, who died after just three days in 1996. Fritzl allegedly told police he disposed of the baby's body in a furnace after he died.

The prosecution claim he murdered the baby by failing to seek medical attention. He is alleged to have then told his daughter: "Whatever happens, happens."

In Austria murder carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, but legal experts have said the case for murder will be complicated by the lack of forensic evidence.

Enslavement, which Mr Mayer also described as “questionable”, carries up to 20 years, and rape up to 15.

The trial is attracting worldwide media attention, with more than 150 journalists expected to descend on the town for the trial - set to last five days.

The eight-man jury will be expected to deliver its verdict on March 20.

DNA tests have confirmed Fritzl fathered all six of his daughter's surviving children, according to the authorities.

Court spokesman Franz Cutka said none of Fritzl's victims or family members will be present during the mainly closed-door proceedings.

The harrowing revelation that Fritzl had kept his daughter Elisabeth a prisoner in a windowless cellar for almost 24 years, repeatedly raping her and fathering seven children by her, became public almost a year ago after a tip-off to the police led to Fritzl's arrest.

During questioning, Elisabeth told police her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11 and sedated, handcuffed and locked her in a room in the cellar of his home in Amstetten, west of Vienna, on August 28, 1984.

Fritzl told family members that she had run off and joined a religious sect.

During the 24 years that followed, Elisabeth was said to have been continually abused by her father.

In 1996, she gave birth to twins but one died several days later allegedly after Fritzl refused to take action when the boy developed severe breathing problems. Fritzl is alleged to have thrown the child's body into a furnace.

Police said three of the children were registered with authorities and lived with Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie.

It is claimed they told authorities the children were found outside their home, each time with a note from the mother.
The other three children were apparently held captive in the cellar with their mother.

The details of the horrific case only became known last April after 19-year-old Kerstin, the first child to be born in the cellar, was found unconscious and admitted to hospital.

The authorities had publicly appealed for her mother to come forward to help diagnose her condition.

A week later police picked up Elisabeth and her father near the hospital.

Police said at the time that Elisabeth appeared “greatly disturbed” during questioning and had agreed to talk only after authorities assured her that she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be cared for.

Chilling details later emerged alleging that Fritzl first planned to build his secret cell as early as 1978 when she was 12 years old.

Investigators were said to have found a total of eight doors fitted with sophisticated locks and electronics securing the underground warren of windowless rooms where they said Fritzl held his daughter captive.

Investigators have said they believe he concealed his crime from Rosemarie.

Her sister, named as Christine R, told the media that Rosemarie had believed her husband's cover story that Elisabeth had run away from home to join a cult.

Christine R described Fritzl as a “tyrant” who instilled a culture of fear at home, which may have explained why his wife and other children apparently never dared venture into the cellar - which Fritzl warned was strictly off-limits.