Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro and Brother Appeared in Court

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Look at how the roles have turned Ariel Castro used to keep Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Knight looked for years in chains, but now he is the one who was wearing chains and the one who will be locked for years.

52-year-old Ariel Castro is the lone madman in the kidnapping of three innocent girls, at first it was believed his older brother Pedro and younger brother Onil were also involved but new developments in the investigations proved otherwise, unlike Ariel’s brother who appeared in court with the a higher face, Ariel Castro kept his face down.

 
Cleveland kidnap suspect Ariel Castro hung his head in shame as he made his first court appearance on kidnap and rape charges.

The 52-year-old Castro stared at the floor throughout the short hearing at Cleveland Municipal court.

Castro, who was charged with four counts of kidnap and three of rape, didn’t once glance up to face the packed courtroom from the moment he entered.

Flanked by five guards and wearing a blue prison jump suit, he shuffled into the courtroom alongside his brothers Pedro and Onil.

Castro, who is alleged to have kept Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus captive for over a decade, refused to look up at judge Lauren Moore and face the bank of TV cameras inside courtroom three.

He did not speak or acknowledge the judge when she set bond at $8 million. The prosecutor had asked for bond to be set at $5 million, but the judge choose to make it higher and issued a $2 million bond on each of the four charges against Castro.

He told the court Castro had made a ‘premeditated decision to snatch three young ladies off the street for his self gratifying and self serving ways’.

He said their ordeal lasted for over a decade during which time they were beaten and sexually assaulted by Castro and never allowed to leave the residence where he held them captive.

‘Inexplicably as they disappeared they reappeared this week,’ Murphy told the hearing.

‘Mr Castro stands here today a captive while the women are free to resume their lives with the promise that justice will be served to to protect the victims and the community he manipulated and deceived.’

Castro, a former school bus driver, showed no reaction during the prosecutor’s statement, staring intently at the floor.

Two guards stood by Castro as he was led out of the small courtroom to the sound of multiple photographer’s cameras motor drives whirring.

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Earlier the public defender had told the court Castro was 52 years old and had lived in Cleveland for the past 39 years.

She said he had no previous felony or misdemeanor convictions.

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Castro had been brought to the courtroom alongside his brothers Pedro and Onil.

They were both facing outstanding misdemeanor charges having been cleared of any involvement in the rape and kidnap of the three women.

Pedro faced a misdemeanor charge of having an open container from 2011.

The public defender pleaded no contest and asked for four days he spent in jail after being arrested after the kidnap girls escaped to be taken into consideration.

Judge Moore fined him $100 and credited him the four days in jail.

His brother Onil’s misdemeanor dated from 2001 and was for having an open container and a drug charged.

The judge agreed with the public defender’s motion to dismiss the case as it was 12 years old.

Neither brother said anything during the hearing with both having a glazed, stunned looked on their face.

The arraignment of Ariel Castro is the first step in the legal process.

He will next appear at the Cuyahoga County Court where evidence will be presented to a Grand Jury to decide if the case should proceed.

It was revealed in a police press conference yesterday that Ariel Castro waived his Miranda rights and provided a detailed statement to police. He claimed there are no more victims.

It also emerged that among the 200 items collected from his home was a letter, written in 2004 and in which Castro allegedly confesses to his crimes and writes about his desire to kill himself ‘and give all the money I saved to my victims’.

Ariel Castro allegedly outlined what he did and why he did it. He talks about having a *** addiction and needing help because of family problems and a poor childhood. He wrote that he considered himself to be a sexual predator’ and saying ‘I need help.’

Castro didn’t know why he kept looking for another victim, because ‘I already had 2 in my possession.’

In another, Castro allegedly wrote that he was surprised how young his daughter’s best friend Gina DeJesus was – because he ‘thought she was much older.’

One other excerpt Castro blamed his victims for their predicament, saying: ‘They are here against their will because they made a mistake of getting in a car with a total stranger.’

The brothers spent their first nights in jail hearing death threats from fellow inmates and cries of ‘don’t feed the rapist’.

They were kept in separate cells at the Central Prison Unit at the Cleveland Police Headquarters in Ohio.

They were all accused of holding three women for a decade – Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and 32-year-old Michele Knight – after abducting them between 2002 and 2004.

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However the inmates’ threats and abuse seemed to have little effect on the three brothers who reportedly slept soundly through the night.

One prison guard told the New York Daily News: ‘They seem relaxed. Mostly they’ve just been sleeping with their heads under the pillows like they don’t want to be bothered.’

In the press conference this afternoon, police chief Ed Tomba said the women did not have any opportunity to escape and had only been outside the house twice in the last ten years.

‘We were told they left the house and went into the garage in disguise. They never left the property.’

He said the first time they had been outside the house was on Monday when they managed to escape.

‘The first time they have been outside the house in ten years was when they escaped from the house’ he said.

Castro went out to grab a bite Monday night at a nearby fast food restaurant, forgot to lock the main front door of his home. Instead, he locked only a screen door, allowing Berry to escape with the help of a neighbor, Charles Ramsey, who heard her screams inside the home.

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Berry then called 911, and police were on the scene within minutes and later arrested Castro at McDonalds,

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His brothers were arrested because they were with Ariel.