Elisabeth Fritzl, the woman who was locked in a cellar for 24 years by her father, who raped her and fathered her children, has spoken out about what her life was like while kept prisoner by her domineering father.

In an interview with an Austrian judge, Elisabeth, 42, said that her father, Josef, raped her at least three times a week for all those years. Of the seven children he fathered with her, three lived in the cellar, while three were chosen by Josef to be raised in the house by he and his wife. One child died in infancy, and Josef reportedly incinerated the baby's corpse.

Elisabeth said in her statement that if she tried to deny her father sex, he would hurt the children. He also threatened to leave them in the cellar if they did not behave how he wanted them to.

The cellar had no windows and only one electronically controlled door, built by the Josef, an engineer. When the captive family was finally freed after the eldest daughter collapsed and Josef took her to the hospital in April, it was the first time the children had seen natural light or breathed fresh air.

She told the judge that she tried to create some sense of normalcy for her children when Josef was not around, but when he was there he demanded full control.

Her statement was quoted in the Times of London: "When he went away we led our own lives," she said. "When he was here it was all silence. He was just all-powerful.

"It was his kind of communication to use rough words. He would be insulting against me and the children. When he was at the table and we were eating and someone was holding their knife wrongly, or did not want to eat, there would be verbal abuse.

"He wouldn't let the kids develop their own personalities. He would not allow the kids to have their own will."

Josef is jailed and awaiting trial. He is expected to be charged with 3,000 counts of rape among other charges.