Josef Fritzl, the 73-year-old Austrian responsible for holding his daughter prisoner for 24 years and fathering with her seven children considers the media coverage as unfair and completely one-sided.

According to a statement presented by the defendant’s lawyer, Fritzl claims he is not a monster and he should be given credit for letting his daughter and children live. Reuters quoted him saying: "I could have killed all of them -- then nothing would have happened. No one would have ever known about it."

Out of the seven children, one died immediately after birth, three were raised by Fritzl and his wife as their adopted grandchildren and three were kept in the basement with their mother.

The three children locked up, Kerstin, 19, Stefan 18 and Felix 5, were exposed to sunlight for the first time when they were released about two weeks ago. Kerstin’s undiagnosed illness triggered the events, as her father decided to take her to a hospital for further investigations. She is now in an artificial coma and doctors refuse to jump to any conclusions about her recovery’s progress.

"Without me (she) would not be alive anymore...I was the one who made sure that she was taken to a hospital," said Fritzl according to Reuters, in an attempt to aid his case.

The horrible case caught the attention of people everywhere, and many discussions are now focused on plans to extend by as much as 15 years the current punishments for sex offences and other serious offences.