Ohio Kidnap: Victim Confronts Castro In Court

Ohio kidnapping victim Michelle Knight has confronted her former captor in court, telling Ariel Castro he faces "an eternity in hell".

"I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning," Ms Knight read from a prepared statement during Castro's sentencing hearing.

The 32-year-old Knight was the first woman abducted by Castro in 2002 after he lured her into his house with the promise of a puppy for her son.

Earlier, Castro apologised to the three woman he kept captive, subjecting them to years of sexual and physical abuse.

A model of Ariel Castro's home is displayed in court

The 53-year-old made a brief statement at the beginning of his sentencing hearing.

"I would like to apologise," he told the judge, adding that he would speak more later in the day.

Castro, a former school bus driver, has pleaded guilty to 937 charges, including kidnapping, rape, assault and aggravated murder.

Prosecutors are expected to detail Castro's daily assaults on the women, recounted in diaries that compared the women's experience to that of prisoners of war.

He stands to get life in prison plus 1,000 years.

A police photo shows chains used to restrain the women inside the home

"Mr Castro does accept full responsibility for his conduct," defence lawyer Craig Weintraub told the court.

The women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old - and were held captive for a decade.

The three, Ms Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, escaped in May, and Castro was arrested within hours.

For years, Castro chained his captives by their ankles, fed them only one meal a day and provided plastic toilets in their bedrooms that were infrequently emptied, prosecutors said.

He locked all of them in a vehicle in his garage for three days when someone visited him, prosecutors said.

Castro said he did not have an exit strategy from his complicated double life and finally gave the women a chance to escape by leaving a door unlocked, court documents showed.

At the sentencing hearing, witnesses, including a police officer who was among the first ones to arrive at the scene, described the desperate condition of the three victims.

Cleveland Police Officer Barbara Johnson said the three were "thin, pale, scared" and were asking what had happened to them.

Ms Knight was "very, very scared", and was having a hard time breathing, the officer testified.

Throughout the hearing, Castro listened and frequently talked to his lawyers.

Ms Knight sent police a handwritten letter thanking them for their help collecting cards and gifts for the women.

In the note, she wrote: "Life is tough, but I'm tougher!"

:: Ariel Castro Sentencing In Court: Live Updates

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