Accused kidnapper held on US$8m bond
Source: Agencies |
May 10, 2013, Friday
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A former school bus driver accused of kidnapping three young women and raping them during a decade of captivity in his house was ordered yesterday held on US$8 million bond in a Cleveland court, his head bowed and his face turned away from spectators.
It was the first time the dark-haired, balding Ariel Castro, 52, had been seen in public since his arrest on Monday following the escape of three women and a child from his house in a low-income neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.
In Cleveland Municipal Court, Castro was expressionless, his hands in cuffs before Judge Lauren Moore, who set his bond at US$2 million for each of the women and the child who was born in captivity.
Castro's home "was a prison to these three women and the child," Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brian Murphy told the judge.
"Today the situation is turned on him," Murphy said. "Mr Castro stands before you a captive, in captivity, a prisoner."
Castro was formally charged on Wednesday with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. He neither spoke nor entered a plea during his initial court appearance yesterday.
His court-appointed lawyer, Kathleen DeMetz, said Castro would need US$800,000 cash to get out of jail. "The man doesn't have any money," she said. "He clearly doesn't have that."
Officials said the three women were at times bound in chains or rope and endured starvation, beatings, sexual assaults and in the case of one of them, several miscarriages deliberately induced by their captor.
The imprisonment of the women and small child came to an end on Monday after neighbors, drawn to the house by cries for help, broke through a door to rescue Amanda Berry, whose disappearance in 2003 the day before her 17th birthday was widely publicized in the local media.
Rescued with Berry, now 27, was her six-year-old daughter, conceived and born during her confinement, and two fellow captives - Gina DeJesus, 23, who vanished in 2004, and Michelle Knight, 32, who went missing in 2002.
Initially, Castro's two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50, were also arrested as suspects in the case but police said they were not charged after investigators determined they had no knowledge of the abductions or captivity of the women.
They appeared in court yesterday morning on unrelated outstanding misdemeanor charges and were released.
Berry told police that her escape on Monday had been her first chance to break free in the 10 years that she was held, seizing the opportunity during Castro's momentary absence.
According to initial investigation, one of the three women suffered at least five miscarriages that Castro is accused of having intentionally caused by starving her for weeks and beating her in the abdomen.
Berry's baby was born in a plastic inflatable children's swimming pool on Christmas Day, 2006, police said.
The women recalled leaving the confines of the house just twice during their captivity, ushered on both occasions into a separate garage on the small lot while disguised in wigs and hats.
The women also told police their abductions occurred when Castro offered them rides and they accepted.
It was the first time the dark-haired, balding Ariel Castro, 52, had been seen in public since his arrest on Monday following the escape of three women and a child from his house in a low-income neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.
In Cleveland Municipal Court, Castro was expressionless, his hands in cuffs before Judge Lauren Moore, who set his bond at US$2 million for each of the women and the child who was born in captivity.
Castro's home "was a prison to these three women and the child," Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brian Murphy told the judge.
"Today the situation is turned on him," Murphy said. "Mr Castro stands before you a captive, in captivity, a prisoner."
Castro was formally charged on Wednesday with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. He neither spoke nor entered a plea during his initial court appearance yesterday.
His court-appointed lawyer, Kathleen DeMetz, said Castro would need US$800,000 cash to get out of jail. "The man doesn't have any money," she said. "He clearly doesn't have that."
Officials said the three women were at times bound in chains or rope and endured starvation, beatings, sexual assaults and in the case of one of them, several miscarriages deliberately induced by their captor.
The imprisonment of the women and small child came to an end on Monday after neighbors, drawn to the house by cries for help, broke through a door to rescue Amanda Berry, whose disappearance in 2003 the day before her 17th birthday was widely publicized in the local media.
Rescued with Berry, now 27, was her six-year-old daughter, conceived and born during her confinement, and two fellow captives - Gina DeJesus, 23, who vanished in 2004, and Michelle Knight, 32, who went missing in 2002.
Initially, Castro's two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50, were also arrested as suspects in the case but police said they were not charged after investigators determined they had no knowledge of the abductions or captivity of the women.
They appeared in court yesterday morning on unrelated outstanding misdemeanor charges and were released.
Berry told police that her escape on Monday had been her first chance to break free in the 10 years that she was held, seizing the opportunity during Castro's momentary absence.
According to initial investigation, one of the three women suffered at least five miscarriages that Castro is accused of having intentionally caused by starving her for weeks and beating her in the abdomen.
Berry's baby was born in a plastic inflatable children's swimming pool on Christmas Day, 2006, police said.
The women recalled leaving the confines of the house just twice during their captivity, ushered on both occasions into a separate garage on the small lot while disguised in wigs and hats.
The women also told police their abductions occurred when Castro offered them rides and they accepted.
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