BERLIN - German prosecutors have charged a pensioner with raping his daughter 497 times over three decades during which he controlled her every move and fathered three children with her.

The 69-year old man from Middle Franconia in southern Germany is suspected of first forcing his daughter to have sex with him when she was just 12 or 13 years old and then raping her several times a week, the prosecutors said.

"She was unable to escape the authoritarian father because he always controlled his daughter, accompanying her on car rides and on shopping trips, and not allowing her to have relationships with other people," the prosecutors of Nuremberg-Fuerth said.

The crime was uncovered when the now 46-year old woman confided in her probation officer. The authorities did not give any details as to why the woman was on probation.    

The man has been in custody since March and prosecutors said

he admits sexual contact with his daughter but maintains it was consensual.

The 497 charges relate to those not covered under the statute of limitations.  

The case echoes an incest case in Austria in 2008 which drew international outrage. Josef Fritzl fathered seven children with a daughter he locked up for years. He was jailed for life in 2009 aged 74.