Lawyer says Austrian incest father "a broken man"

By Paul Bolding

VIENNA (Reuters) - The lawyer of the Austrian man who held his daughter captive and fathered her seven children said on Sunday his client was "emotionally a broken man".

Lawyer Rudolf Mayer told Reuters Television that it would be hard for Josef Fritzl to get a fair trial in front of a jury because of the massive publicity generated by the case.

Fritzl, 73, has admitted keeping his daughter Elisabeth in a cellar for 24 years. Three of her children had spent their entire lives underground until the case was uncovered just over a week ago.

Mayer said Fritzl should have psychiatric tests to evaluate whether he was fit to stand trial.

"There must be some (psychiatric) disturbance otherwise no one would commit such acts. So is this disturbance so great that he is not of sound mind, not responsible for the acts he has committed?" Mayer said.

Prosecutors are investigating Fritzl for rape, incest, coercion and the death of one of the children, a baby whose remains he burned in a furnace.

The case has generated headlines worldwide and prompted questions about how the abuse in the small town of Amstetten went undetected for so long.

Mayer said this could influence jurors.