Ariel Castro, the Ohio kidnapper who kidnapped three women and raped them for over 10 years, has been sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
During Castro's hearing today, victim Michele Knight read out a testimony before her captor was sentenced.
In the emotional statement, Knight told Castro: "I cried every night. I was so alone. I worried what would happen to me and the other girls every day. You took 11 years of my life away. ... I spent 11 years in hell. Now, your hell is just beginning.
She talked about Castro being a hypocrite, going to church every Sunday and then coming home to torture them. "I remember all the times you came home talking about what everyone else was doing wrong when you were doing the same thing.
Knight spoke about her friendship with Gina DeJesus, which saved her life.
"She never let me fall, I never let her fall. She nursed me back to health when I was dying from her abuse. My friendship with her is the only good thing to come out of this situation.
Knight said she can overcome what happened, but told Castro that he "will face hell for eternity."
"I will overcome all this that happened. I will live on, you will die a little every day. I will forgive you, but I will never forget.'
The other two victims, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, did not attend the court hearing today.
Sylvia Colon, a representative for Gina DeJesus' family read this statement in court: "Today is the last day we want to think or talk about this, we will continue to live and love..It is not for us to judge or determine any punishment. Only a higher power can do that. Gina] thrives, she laughs, she swims, she dances, she loves and she is loved. She will finish school, go to college, fall in love and - if she chooses - get married and have children. She lives not as a victim, but a survivor."
Amanda Berry's sister Beth Sarrano read out the statement, crying as she did so.
"She does not want to talk about this day or be forced to talk about it. She would love to be the person who decides when and how to tell her daughter. Her concern is that her daughter will read about things said by people at the wrong time. Please continue to respect her privacy, she does not want other people to talk or write about it.
"For such a long time she had no control over her life, please let her have control over this so she can protect her daughter."
Despite pleading guilty to 937 counts against him, the 53-year-old kidnapper denied raping, beating and torturing the girls, saying, "As God as my witness I never beat these women, I never tortured them, he said. 'These women were not virgins when I met them, all three of them. The sex inside the house was consensual, I did not force sex on them."
Judge Michael Russo sentenced Castro to life in prison, plus 1,000 years, telling him, "There is no place in this city, there is no place in this country, there is no place in this world for those who enslave others. You don't deserve to be out in our community. You're too dangerous."
Russo continued, "A person can only die in prison once," calling the sentence "commensurate with the harm you've done."
