The Cleveland bus driver who abducted, imprisoned and repeatedly raped three women was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without parole, after one of his victims confronted him and said he had put her through 11 years of hell.
"I am not a monster. I was sick," Castro said, insisting he was addicted to sex and pornography.
He also insisted the women were lying when they said he beat them, declaring "I am not a violent person."
Ariel Castro, 53, apologized to his victims, but was mostly defiant at a court hearing during which he verbally sparred with the judge and blamed his actions on abuse as a child and a sexual obsession.
Ariel Castro's vain pleas that he was not a violent man fell on deaf ears, as Judge Michael Russo accepted a plea deal that saw him convicted on 977 criminal counts.
"If you asked my daughter she would say, my dad is the best dad in the world," Castro said.
"We stand before you and promise you that our beloved family member thrives," said Sylvia Colon, DeJesus' cousin. "She laughs, swims, dances, and more importantly, she loves and is loved. We are comforted in knowing that she will continue to flourish."
The women have begun emerging from the privacy they had sought after they escaped to freedom.
Berry made a surprise onstage appearance at a rap concert last weekend, and DeJesus made a few televised comments as a privacy fence was being erected around her house.
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