Cleveland kidnapping victims Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, kept diaries throughout their time in captivity for ten years.
On the day before Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro is due in court where he is expected to receive a sentence of life in prison, plus 1,000 years, new details of the case emerged after prosecutors submitted a memorandum compiled with evidence, reports the Daily Mail.
The memorandum includes diaries kept by the three women Castro held captive for 10 years, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, and describe the horrific conditions they were subjected to. Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said in the documents filed Wednesday that Castro “serially abused them physically, emotionally, and sexually on a daily basis” but nonetheless “remains remorseless for his actions.”
The entries in the diaries kept by the women were used as evidence to support those claims against Castro.
“The entries speak of forced sexual conduct, of being locked in a dark room, of anticipating the next session of abuse, of the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, of being chained to a wall, of being held like a prisoner of war,” the memorandum says.
The memorandum also describes how the women were restrained by chains attached to their ankles and were only fed one meal a day. Plastic toilets given to the women were rarely emptied and Castro used the “cold of the basement” and the “heat of the attic” as punishment techniques.
The memo attempts to persuade the judge to give Castro the sentence that he has previously agreed to accept. The deal accepted by the former bus driver spared him the death penalty as well as spared the three women from retelling and recounting their horrific experience in trial.
In May, Amanda Berry broke free from Castro’s household where he kept them locked up and desperately ran to a neighbor for help. Castro has pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including kidnapping, rape, assault and aggravated murder. He’s being sentenced today.
