Ariel Castro, the 53-year-old Cleveland man who abducted, imprisoned, and repeatedly raped three women over the course of 11 years, made a brief statement during a court hearing Thursday, shortly before he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Here are a few highlights from Castro’s remarks:
- “I have prepared a rambling mess of complete nonsense that I would now like to read to the court.”
- “Some say imprisoning three women in my home for a decade makes me a monster, I say it doesn’t, and of course the truth is somewhere in the middle.”
- “I was just thinking…it’s kind of weird we’re letting me speak at all, right?”
- “So I’m completely free to go after I serve my life sentence plus an extra 1,000 years?”
- “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I wish I didn’t get caught doing all of the bad things that I did, because, to be honest, I’d like to continue doing the things I was doing before.”
- “Rockwell font was a mistake. I can barely read this.”
- “Well, this whole thing has made me feel very bad about myself. I hope you’re happy.”
- “I look forward to being rehabilitated.”
- “People like me exist all throughout the world. I’ll leave you on that note.”