Ariel Castro, the former Cleveland school bus driver who held captive three women for years, pleaded guilty yesterday to hundreds of charges of kidnapping and rape to avoid the death penalty, and will serve life in prison.
At a court hearing, Ohio prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against Castro. Under the agreement he will not stand trial, sparing the women the trauma of testifying about their abuse by Castro for about a decade.
The women vanished without a trace between 2002 and 2004 in the same neighbourhood where Castro lived and were rescued on May 6th, 11 years after the first of them disappeared.
They had been bound for periods of time in chains or ropes and endured starvation, beatings and sexual assaults, according to court documents and a police report.
On May 6th, neighbours heard cries for help from Amanda Berry (27) and helped her break open a door to Castro's house, where they also found Gina DeJesus (23) and Michelle Knight (32) upstairs. Also rescued was Berry's six-year-old daughter, who was fathered by Castro while he held the women captive, DNA evidence later confirmed.
Sexual obsession
At yesterday's hearing, Castro, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit, wearing glasses and with a heavy beard, spoke for the first time in detail about his actions. He said he had been a victim himself as a child and had struggled with a sexual obsession.
“My addiction to pornography and my sexual problem has really taken a toll on my mind,” Castro (53) told the judge in a clear voice. “I was also a victim as a child and it just kept going.”
None of Castro’s family or the victims – Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight – attended the hearing.
The women said after the hearing they were relieved Castro will be behind bars for the rest of his life and wanted to maintain their privacy.
“Amanda, Gina, and Michelle are relieved by today’s plea,” they said in a statement released by the law firm Jones Day. “They are satisfied by this resolution to the case”
Police initially detained Castro’s two brothers, Onil and Pedro, on suspicion of aiding him in his crimes but they were quickly released and said they had no knowledge of his double life.
Castro was a bus driver for the Cleveland school district for years, until he was fired in 2012 after a disciplinary incident.
Plea agreement
Castro told Cuyahoga County judge Michael Russo yesterday he understood he would never emerge from prison under the plea agreement. "I do understand that. I knew I was pretty much going to get the book thrown at me," he said.
Castro pleaded guilty to 937 of the 977 counts against him, including kidnapping of the three women and the young girl, and serial rape of the women. The full sentence is life without parole, plus 1,000 years. The formal sentencing proceeding is scheduled for August 1st.
Castro also had been charged with murder under an Ohio foetal homicide law. Prosecutors accused him of beating and starving Knight while she was pregnant so she would have a miscarriage. – (Reuters)