Ariel Castro, the man who kidnapped and sexually abused three women for over a decade in his Cleveland Home, spoke during his sentencing, rambling a bit, and making bizarre comments, such as that he isn’t a monster, that he’s just sick. He blamed being abused himself as a child, and his addiction to pornography, for his behaviors, and went on to explain that he wasn’t raping the women, they were coming to him for sex, that it was mostly consensual, a moment when the attorney behind Castro noticeably winces.
Among other indications that suggest Castro’s view of himself lacks insight are when he spoke of the daughter born to him by Amanda Berry, as USA Today reported: “She’ll probably say, ‘My daddy is the best daddy in the world.’ Because that’s how I tried to raise her in those six years. So she wouldn’t be traumatized or anything like that.”
He also said that “I am truly sorry for what happened… I just hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me … we had a lot of harmony going on in that home.”
Harmony aside, Michelle Knight, the only victim to attend the sentencing in person, said that “Your hell is just beginning. I will live on. You will die a little bit every day,” noting also the hypocrisy Castro exhibited while going to church on Sundays only to return home to torture her and the other two women. “Days never got shorter. Days turned into night, night turned into years. Years turned into eternity.
Castro originally tricked Knight into entering his house by offering a puppy for her son, who was 2 ½ at the time of the kidnapping. His method for breaking the girls down including locking them in the basement. 90 pounds of chains were removed from the house.
Though Castro disputed Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Russo’s labeling him as a sexual predator, Russo said Castro’s’ “merciless acts deserve maximum prison time…. No single prison term adequately reflects the enormity of your conduct. I still feel based upon the information you’ve provided to the court that you feel you are a victim….you’ve been a victimizer. The three young women should have been free to live their lives. They shouldn’t have been locked in a house, in deplorable conditions.” The judge also called Castro an extreme narcissist.
After pleading guilty to 937 charges last week, Castor was finally sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 1,000 years.