Watch: Ariel Castro pleads guilty, receives life without parole.
CLEVELAND – The U.S. man who imprisoned three women in his home, subjecting them to a decade of rapes, beatings and miscarriages, pleaded guilty Friday in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
Ariel Castro told the judge he was addicted to pornography, had a “sexual problem” and had been a sexual abuse victim long ago. In exchange, prosecutors recommended the Puerto Rican-born Castro be sentenced to life without parole, plus 1,000 years.
Castro, 53, said he understood that he would never get out of prison.
“My addiction to pornography and my sexual problem has really taken a toll on my mind,” he said.
Sentencing was set for Thursday.
The three women said they are relieved that Castro has pleaded guilty to charges that will keep him in prison for life. A statement released by a law firm representing the women says they are satisfied by the resolution. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are continuing to ask for privacy.
The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. Each said they had accepted a ride from Castro, who remained friends with the family of one of the women and even attended vigils marking her disappearance.
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The women escaped Castro’s house May 6 when one of them kicked out part of a door and called to neighbours for help. Castro was arrested within hours and has remained behind bars.
Castro pled guilty to 937 counts, including two counts of aggravated murder related to accusations that he punched and starved one woman until she miscarried. The former school bus driver also was charged with hundreds of counts of kidnapping and rape, plus assault and other counts.
He was accused of repeatedly restraining the women, sometimes chaining them to a pole in a basement, to a bedroom heater or inside a van. The charges alleged Castro assaulted one woman with a vacuum cord around her neck when she tried to escape.
Castro fathered a 6-year-old daughter with Berry, authorities said. They allege that on the day the child was born, Christmas 2006, Castro raped one of the other women, who had helped deliver the baby.
Berry told authorities that she, her child and the other women never saw a doctor during their captivity.
Knight said her five pregnancies ended after Castro starved and repeatedly punched her.
The Associated Press does not usually identify people who may be victims of sexual assault, but the names of the three women were widely circulated after they disappeared, and they appeared in an online video thanking the public for its support.
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