Broken Fritzl describes courtroom epiphany

VIENNA, March 27 (UPI) -- Josef Fritzl said he wished for the toughest sentence possible as he sat in court and looked at the daughter he had imprisoned in their Austrian home.

In his first interview since his trial on murder and slavery charges, Fritzl said it was at that moment that he truly realized the damage he had done to his daughter, Elisabeth.

"As I noticed that she was here, in the court room…and looked and saw her myself, I was suddenly so ashamed," Fritzl said in the interview, which Britain's Independent said Friday was conducted by his lawyer and published this week in Austria's News magazine.

Fritzl last week changed his plea to guilty on charges he kept Elisabeth confined to the basement for 24 years, raped her thousands of times and killed a newborn child he had fathered.

The 73-year-old Fritzl said that although he had tried to make the cellar home as pleasant as possible, he now felt thoroughly ashamed. He also said he wanted to make himself available to psychiatrists who can get to the bottom of his motivations and use their findings to help his family recover.