Vienna  - Austrian incest suspect Josef Fritzl loved his imprisoned victims in his own way and cared for them, his lawyer Rudolf Mayer claimed Friday, while predicting that his client would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Fritzl, 73, is set to stand trial from March 16 on charges of enslaving, raping and incarcerating his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children. He is also accused of having murdered one of them.

Mayer told Austrian press agency APA that his client had loved his daughter Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, "in his own way", as well as her children, as he had taught them to read and write and celebrated their birthdays.

Fritzl kept his victims in a windowless dungeon beneath his house and threatened to kill them should they try to flee, according to the indictment.

"What's extraordinary about this case is that the defendant is no sex monster," Mayer said. "A monster would have cut their throats or shot them, buried them all and enjoyed his remaining years."

The lawyer admitted that he had little defense strategy since Fritzl has confessed most of the alleged crimes, with the exception of killing one child by failing to call medical help.

If the jury at the court in the town of Sankt Poelten convicts Fritzl of murder, he could face life imprisonment. Enslavement carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in Austria. (dpa)