Neighbour who helped free Ariel Castro’s captives to write a memoir, Castlewood Treatment Center lawsuit dismissed

Neighbour who helped free Ariel Castro’s captives to write a memoir
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight and Berry’s 6-year-old daughter escaped to freedom May 6

AP 22 Dec 2013

The man who famously put aside his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive in a Cleveland house for over a decade has signed a contract to publish his memoirs.

Charles Ramsey signed the deal with the Cleveland publisher David Gray & Co. on Thursday.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight and Berry’s 6-year-old daughter escaped to freedom May 6….
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10534007/Neighbour-who-helped-free-Ariel-Castros-captives-to-write-a-memoir.html

Castlewood Treatment Center is on a new course

Regarding “Castlewood lawsuit is drawing to a close” (Dec. 16):

Even though the referenced cases have been dismissed and those issues resolved, a small group of people continues to cause harm by making negative comments in the media and online. The tragedy in this is that their actions could prevent people who need treatment for eating disorders from seeking help for this serious and challenging disease — either at Castlewood or another treatment center.

Millions of people suffer from eating disorders; they have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. And the reality is that trauma is often part of the illness, so when there is documented history of trauma, we treat it. It would be a tragedy if therapists avoid treating clients with eating disorders and trauma because they want to limit risks.

Our therapy incorporates evidence-based treatments and is individualized for each person under our care. Hypnosis is not practiced at Castlewood….

Our program has been thoroughly reviewed and recently received the highest level of professional accreditation from two esteemed organizations. We have successfully treated more than a thousand individuals by addressing underlying issues that help them transform to healthier lives….

Nancy Albus   Ballwin
CEO, Castlewood Treatment Center
http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letters-to-the-editor/castlewood-treatment-center-is-on-a-new-course/article_8407bdc0-e543-54e7-a031-31a6c8e748d3.html

2 Ohio kidnapping survivors ink book deals

2 Ohio kidnapping survivors ink book deals
Dec 16th 2013

NEW YORK (AP) – Two of the three Ohio women held captive for years in a Cleveland house have a book deal.

Viking announced Monday that it has acquired the planned book by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. The book is currently untitled and is scheduled to come out in 2015.

Berry and DeJesus are working with Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan….

Berry, DeJesus and Michelle Knight were rescued in May and their kidnapper, Ariel Castro, was arrested and eventually sentenced to life in prison….

Knight is working on her own memoir, which Weinstein Books plans to publish next spring.
http://www.aol.com/article/2013/12/16/2-ohio-kidnapping-survivors-ink-book-deals/20789827/

Michelle Knight wanted to kiss the ground after rescue from Castro ‘hellhole’, More police officers to be investigated over link with paedophile Jimmy Savile

Michelle Knight wanted to kiss the ground after rescue from Castro ‘hellhole’
by Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN   Wed November 6, 2013

(CNN) — Michelle Knight squeezes her eyes shut and cries as she listens to the 911 call that led police to rescue her from the house where Ariel Castro held her hostage for more than a decade.

In the recording, fellow captive Amanda Berry begs police to come quickly, before Castro gets home.

“Help me, I’m Amanda Berry,” she says. “I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years. And I’m here, I’m free now.”

That frantic call six months ago finally brought authorities to the Cleveland home where Berry, Knight and Gina DeJesus had been Castro’s prisoners.

The moment when police rescued them, Knight recalled in an interview broadcast Wednesday on the syndicated “Dr. Phil” talk show, was a “roller coaster of mixed emotion.”

“I wanted to kiss the ground that I was walking on and thank God for letting me get out of that hellhole,” Knight told host Dr. Phil McGraw….
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/justice/michelle-knight-dr-phil/

More police officers to be investigated over link with paedophile Jimmy Savile

MORE police officers are set to be investigated over their links to paedophile Jimmy Savile, we can reveal.
By Jonathan Corke Published 10th November 2013

Ex-West Yorkshire Police inspector Mick Starkey, 61, is already under investigation over claims he acted “on behalf” of Savile during another force’s child sex abuse probe.

But today we can disclose further ­officers from West Yorkshire – Savile’s local force – may be quizzed.

We have learned that, as well as ­passing the Starkey allegations to the ­Independent Police Complaints ­Commission (IPCC), the force has made another referral.

The IPCC told us it involves “a number of different officers” who had contact with the prolific child sex offender.

A recent review by WYP found at least eight former or serving officers had attended a Friday Morning Club which the pervert held at his penthouse ­apartment in Roundhay, Leeds.

It established that most were invited by Starkey or another officer, known as “Sergeant B”.

Four of the eight were said to have attended just once, while the other four “attended on a regular basis over a number of years”….

As we revealed last year, Savile had pals in several forces, including the Metropolitan Police.

Last week the IPCC asked Sussex Police to refer the conduct of two ­detectives over their handling of an ­indecent assault claim against him in 2008.

It is claimed police told Savile’s victim his lawyers would make “mincemeat” of her in court.

The probe – Operation Baseball – ended with Savile evading justice.

The IPCC said it has requested further information from the Met and Surrey Police about their dealings with Savile.

Surrey’s two-year investigation into Savile also ended in him escaping justice over three claims….
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/350026/More-police-officers-to-be-investigated-over-link-with-paedophile-Jimmy-Savile

Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus Survivors of Abduction Act, Jimmy Savile NHS abuse probe: ‘Up to 30’ hospitals involved

Lawmakers’ schedule includes bills on Ariel Castro victims’ compensation, feral hog roadkill
Jeremy Pelzer, Northeast Ohio Media Group
October 14, 2013

….HB 197, the Survivors Abduction Act, may be voted on by the House Health and Aging Committee on Wednesday. The measure would give state compensation to the three women held captive by Cleveland kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro, as well as others held in “involuntary servitude” for eight years or more. The bill would also provide such victims free college tuition and health care for life.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/10/lawmakers_schedule_includes_bi.html

As Introduced
130th General Assembly
Regular Session
2013-2014
H. B. No. 197
Representatives Barnes, Grossman
Cosponsors: Representatives Antonio, Mallory, Patmon, Schuring, Wachtmann

A BILL

To amend sections 2743.51, 2743.59, and 2743.66 and to enact sections 3333.27 and 5111.82 of the Revised Code to award at least twenty-five thousand dollars per year from the court of claims victims of crime fund to any survivor of abduction who was abducted for a period of eight years or more; to award free tuition at any state university or college to any such survivor of abduction; to seek a waiver from the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services for medical assistance to be provided for any such survivor of abduction for the duration of the survivor’s lifetime; and to name the provisions of this bill the Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus Survivors of Abduction Act.
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=130_HB_197

Jimmy Savile NHS abuse probe: ‘Up to 30’ hospitals involved  14 October 2013
Up to 30 hospitals are now under investigation as part of the inquiry into Jimmy Savile’s alleged abuse of patients at NHS hospitals, the BBC understands.

Inquiries had originally just focused on Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville and Leeds General Infirmary, with a further 10 trusts added in January.
A final report will be published in 2014.

The late DJ is believed to have abused hundreds of victims.

The former BBC presenter of Top Of The Pops and Jim’ll Fix It, who also worked as a Radio 1 DJ and received a knighthood in 1990, died aged 84 in October 2011 – a year before the allegations were broadcast in an ITV documentary.

Revelations that Savile had sexually abused children prompted hundreds of victims to come forward, including those who said they were attacked on BBC premises and at a number of other institutions.

Savile had a bedroom at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, an office and living quarters at Broadmoor, and widespread access to Leeds General Infirmary….

The director of public prosecutions is also reviewing decisions not to prosecute Savile in 2009.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24520001

The Dame Janet Smith Review
….In connection with investigating Jimmy Savile, the Dame Janet Smith Review has been in contact with approximately 600 people and has had over 310 telephone conversations with witnesses, all of which have been noted.  120 witness interviews have now taken place and a number of these interviews have been with individuals who were subject to inappropriate sexual conduct by Savile.  Witness interviews are continuing. http://www.damejanetsmithreview.com/updates/

rapist Ariel Castro’s death left victim Gina DeJesus’ dad ‘speechless’, Explosive tell all book by Jimmy Savile’s nephew

Cleveland kidnapper, rapist Ariel Castro’s death left victim Gina DeJesus’ dad ‘speechless’
09/16/2013 By: Associated Press

LORAIN, Ohio – The father of one of three Cleveland women held captive for a decade says his family is “speechless” and surprised by the kidnapper’s suicide in prison.

The Chronicle-Telegram in Elyria reports Felix DeJesus made the brief comments before appearing Saturday at the Hispanic Heritage parade in Lorain.

He said he and his wife were attending the parade along with one of the other victims, Michelle Knight, to draw attention to other kidnapping cases and efforts to reduce human trafficking….
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/oh_lorain/cleveland-kidnapper-rapist-ariel-castros-death-left-victim-gina-dejesus-dad-speechless

Explosive tell all book by Jimmy Savile’s nephew

JIMMY SAVILE’S nephew is to ­reveal shocking details of how the DJ’s famous friends helped hide his decades of sex abuse.

By Ciaran Hannah/Published 15th September 2013

Guy Marsden, 59, is writing a book with broadcaster and author Tony Horne about his disgraced uncle.

Now Savile’s circle of celebrity pals are living in fear of being named in the book.

Guy will reveal fresh details of the secret paedophile parties the BBC star hosted, some attended by his showbiz friends.

He will claim that Savile had influential members of the British legal system in his back pocket to allow him to act without fear of prosecution.

And he will also expose Savile’s secret links with members of foreign royal families – suggesting he could have abused countless victims from overseas.

Roofer Guy from Leeds, West Yorks, ­decided to write the book after staying silent for years over the Jim’ll Fix It star’s ­ shameful secret life.

He said: “I have written a book based on all my experiences of my uncle from the age of 13. I couldn’t live with the guilt of knowing so much and staying silent any longer….

A joint police and NSPCC report published in January declared that, with at least 450 victims, Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84, was one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.

Metropolitan Police Commander Peter Spindler said Savile “groomed the nation” by raising millions for charity while using his status as a platform for abuse.

In July police discovered the names and ­sexual details of hundreds of girls scrawled across a wall of a Manchester record shop….
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/338683/Explosive-tell-all-book-by-Jimmy-Savile-s-nephew

Ariel Castro’s lawyer says suicide not ‘happy ending’ as victims remain silent, A Big Win for Child Crime Victims

Ariel Castro’s lawyer says suicide not ‘happy ending’ as victims remain silent By Lateef Mungin, CNN Thu September 5, 2013

(CNN) — The reactions to Ariel Castro’s death have ranged from tears to calling him a coward to demands for an investigation. But the three women who suffered in his control for about decade remained silent.

While there were strong opinions about Castro from many, a spokeswoman said Wednesday the three women would not make a statement.

Maria Castro-Montes, Castro’s cousin, said she cried when she heard the news and immediately thought of the victims. Would they be glad or angry about Castro’s death?

“I just hope these victims can move past this now. I know they wanted him to live out a life sentence, but really, was he suffering behind bars?” She said. “I mean, getting meals, sleeping in a nice, warm, soft bed. You know, those girls didn’t even have that luxury when they were being held captive in his home. They were being raped. They were being tortured. They were being beaten.”
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/05/justice/ariel-castro-cleveland-kidnapper-death/index.html

A Big Win for Child Crime Victims
By James R. Marsh on September 2, 2013

In a groundbreaking decision, a Florida federal court recently handed crime victims a significant victory, ruling for the first time that victims are entitled to confer with an assistant United States attorney before the Government enters a pre-charging, non-prosecution agreement with a defendant. Jane Doe v. United States, 08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.). The case involved billionaire hedge fund operator Jeffrey Epstein, who induced minors to prostitute themselves, and then was granted what appears to be a special, sweetheart deal by the Feds without any victim notification or input, much less approval….

A. Facts

Jane Doe (a pseudonym used to protect her identity) is a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire hedge fund operator, who induced her and other minors to prostitute themselves. The FBI investigated Epstein and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida accepted it for prosecution.

In the summer of 2007, the government sent standard victim notification letters to Jane Doe and other victims. Shortly thereafter, it entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein, but “without first conferring with [his victims] and without alerting [them] to the existence of the agreement either before or promptly after the fact.” Id. *1.

It was a sweetheart deal smacking of special privilege for a wealthy and well-connected political donor.

Epstein agreed to plead guilty to two state court charges—solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of minors to engage in prostitution—and received an 18 month sentence (of which he served only 13). Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, a defendant convicted of promoting commercial sex with a minor under these circumstances would be sentenced to significantly more time, at least two and probably three or four times what Epstein received in Florida state court. The non-prosecution agreement also contained a special provision in which the federal prosecutor and Epstein expressed their “anticipat[ion]” that the “agreement will not be made part of any public record.” Id….
http://www.childlaw.us/2013/09/a-big-win-for-child-crime-vict.html

Ariel Castro’s house of horror leveled in Cleveland, Religious order priest admitted abusing 100 boys; new files add to LA clergy abuse picture

Ariel Castro’s house of horror leveled in Cleveland

Neighbors, victims and family clapped and cheered on the street as the heavy equipment clawed away at the roof and walls of Ariel Castro’s house where he kept three women captive for more than a decade.
Jennifer Lindgren, Doug Stanglin and Yamiche Alcindor,  August 7, 2013

One of his victims brought yellow balloons in memory of other missing children.

CLEVELAND — Demolition crews leveled Ariel Castro’s former house of horror Wednesday not long after one of three young women held captive there for 11 years brought a bundle of yellow balloons in memory of other missing children.

Cheers erupted on Seymour Avenue as the heavy equipment clawed away part of the roof and walls of the rundown house where Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were rescued after years of living in chains.

Crews reduced the two-story house to rubble in a little more than an hour. The demolition was carried live online and also drew crowds of neighbors and onlookers.

Castro, 53, pleaded guilty last month to 937 charges including rape, kidnapping and aggravated murder charges in connection with the abduction of the three young women, who were rescued May 6.

Knight, who also spoke at Castro’s sentencing in a moving condemnation of his crimes, made a brief statement and asked God to grant strength to those still missing and told their families to have hope. She says the yellow balloons represented those still out there waiting to be found….
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/07/ariel-castro-cleveland-house-abduction/2626855/

Religious order priest admitted abusing 100 boys; new files add to LA clergy abuse picture
Published August 01, 2013
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES –  In therapy sessions, the priest confessed the shocking details he’d kept hidden for years: He had molested more than 100 boys, including his 5-year-old brother. He had sex with male prostitutes, and frequented gay strip clubs.

The admissions of the Rev. Ruben Martinez are included among nearly 2,000 pages of secret files unsealed Wednesday that were kept on priests, brothers and nuns who belonged to religious orders but were accused of child molestation while working within the Los Angeles archdiocese.

The papers, which were released under the terms of a $660 million settlement agreement reached in 2007, are the first glimpse at what religious orders knew about the men and women they posted in Roman Catholic schools and parishes in the Los Angeles area. The archdiocese itself released thousands of pages under court order this year for its own priests who were accused of sexual abuse, but the full picture of the problem remained elusive without the orders’ records. Several dozen more files are expected to be released by the fall.

The documents cover five different religious orders that employed 10 priests or religious brothers and two nuns who were all accused in civil lawsuits of molesting children. Among them, the accused had 21 alleged victims between the 1950s and the 1980s….
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/01/religious-order-priest-admitted-abusing-100-boys-new-files-add-to-la-clergy/

Ariel Castro’s home to be demolished, Rolf Harris faces new Yewtree sex offences allegations, Sister of mystery man with amnesia says family had no idea where he was

Ariel Castro’s home to be demolished Wednesday
Jennifer Lindgren, WKYC-TV, Cleveland August 6, 2013
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland home where Ariel Castro held three young women for more than a decade will be begin to be demolished Wednesday morning. The demolition comes less than a week after he was sentenced.

After Ariel Castro’s sentencing last week, Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Prosecutor Tim McGinty said the plan was to raze the house as soon as possible.

Castro, who was sentenced to life, plus 1,000 years, without the possibility of parole repeatedly denied during his sentencing that he had tortured Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight after he kidnapped them between 2002 to 2004, holding them captive in his home until Berry managed to escape and alert a neighbor May 6.

Castro, 53, pleaded guilty to 937 charges, including aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping, to avoid the death penalty.

The house on Seymour Avenue is not only condemned, it represents the horrors the three survivors faced for 10 years….
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/06/ariel-castro-home-coming-down/2625501/

Rolf Harris faces new Yewtree sex offences allegations
Rolf Harris Rolf Harris has been a fixture on British TV screens for more than 40 years   5 August 2013

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris has been re-arrested by police over further allegations of sexual offences.

He was first arrested in March by officers from Operation Yewtree, set up after claims of sex abuse were made against BBC presenter Jimmy Savile.

His arrests are not connected to the Savile investigation.

The Metropolitan Police said an 83-year-old had been “further arrested in connection with further allegations”, and rebailed until later in August.

Operation Yewtree was set up following the death of Savile in 2011, when hundreds of sex abuse allegations came to light.

The Met Police have not named Mr Harris, instead describing him as Yewtree 5.

He has been a fixture on British TV screens for more than 40 years, having arrived in the UK from his native Australia in 1952.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23581847

Sister of mystery man with amnesia says family had no idea where he was
16 Jul 2013

By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mysterious Florida man who awoke in a California hotel room with no recollection of his past has a sister, it was revealed Tuesday— and she says she hasn’t seen her brother in about 10 years and did not know if he was alive or dead.

Michael Boatwright, 61, was found unconscious in a Motel 6 room in Palm Springs, Cali. four months ago. When he regained consciousness, he called himself John Ek and, bizarrely, spoke only Swedish, The Desert Sun reported.

The newspaper was able to track down Michelle Brewer, Boatwright’s sister, in Louisiana. She said she and her family had no idea where her brother was and had no way to get in touch with him.

“He’s always been just a wanderer. Then he’d come back when he needed some money or something from somebody. Then he’d take off again,” Brewer told the Sun.

Authorities have struggled to piece together the story of the mystery man….

Doctors diagnosed Boatwright with Transient Global Amnesia in March. The condition can last for several months and is often triggered by trauma. It was unclear what, if any, trauma Boatwright may have experienced.

Friends told the Desert Sun that Boatwright was raised in Florida and first visited Sweden in 1981.

While there he fell in love with Ewa Espling, who told the newspaper that the two had planned to marry but that Boatwright was haunted by nightmares of what he saw during the Vietnam War….
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/16/19503246-sister-of-mystery-man-with-amnesia-says-family-had-no-idea-where-he-was

 

Castro’s statement: Classic signs of a narcissistic sociopath, experts say, ‘Most of the sex … was consensual’: Castro’s blame-the-victim act all too familiar, abuse experts say, Thousands protest freeing of Spanish pedophile in Morocco

Castro’s statement: Classic signs of a narcissistic sociopath, experts say

By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News 8/1/2013

Ariel Castro’s rambling 20-minute statement in court Thursday, in which he repeatedly said, “I am not a monster,” showed signs of a criminal sociopath whose narcissism doesn’t allow him to express remorse, experts say.

Sure, Castro apologized to the three Cleveland women he kidnapped, raped and held captive for a decade, but he spent most of his statement denying personal responsibility.

In opening remarks, Castro’s defense attorney Craig Weintraub said his client suffered from “significant undiagnosed mental illness” that did not rise to the legal definition of insanity.

That may be true, but Dr. Mark Levy, a forensic psychiatrist in California who frequently testifies at criminal trials, told NBC News Thursday that Castro is showing classic signs of sociopathic behavior….

“Many, many people in prison have the diagnoses of antisocial personality. They’re people who have limited, if any conscience and are very narcissistic,” noted Levy. “They see the world through their own eyes and have an exploitive view toward interpersonal behavior.

“The kinds of statements he’s making are antisocial. He won’t take ownership. He’s paying lip service to an apology. Everything  is self-serving and self-gratifying,” Levy said….
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/01/19823989-castros-statement-classic-signs-of-a-narcissistic-sociopath-experts-say

‘Most of the sex … was consensual’: Castro’s blame-the-victim act all too familiar, abuse experts say
Maggie Fox NBC News   Aug. 1, 2013

Ariel Castro’s words at his sentencing hearing on Thursday are almost jaw-dropping. Given a chance to speak before he was sentenced to life in prison, plus a thousand years for aggravated murder and for holding three young women captive for 11 years, he repeatedly blamed his victims.

He denied he raped and beat Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, claiming instead that they asked him for sex and that his sexual addiction was to blame. He even said the abuse couldn’t have been that bad because DeJesus “looks normal.” While many onlookers were astonished, abuse experts said they hear that kind of language and justification every day.

NBC News asked them to weigh in on specific comments Castro made:

“Most of the sex that went on in that house, probably all of it, was consensual,” Castro said. “These allegations about being forceful on them — that is totally wrong. Because there was times where they’d even ask me for sex –many times. And I learned that these girls were not virgins. From their testimony to me, they had multiple partners before me, all three of them.”

The denial and rationalization comes as no shock to experts on rape and abuse. In fact, they say, it’s typical that men who rape or batter women will deny they did anything wrong, and even that the victim was “asking for it”….

“I was taken aback [by Castro’s statements] but at the same time not shocked by it,” says Jennifer Marsh, vice president of victim services for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. “It’s somebody who was not willing to accept that what they did was wrong and who may have convinced themselves that what they are doing is not wrong or justified. It read like the way that a perpetrator thinks.”

According to RAINN, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States every two minutes, and only three out of every 100 rapists ever spends any time in jail….

“Until society decides this is unacceptable, it will continue to happen,” says Flowers. “People really have to move from colluding with battering behavior. They have to interrupt the silence.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/most-sex-was-consensual-castros-blame-victim-all-too-familiar-6C10821794

Thousands protest freeing of Spanish pedophile in Morocco (PHOTOS)
August 03, 2013

Riot police broke up a rally in Morocco where thousands of people protested a decision by the country’s king to pardon a Spanish pedophile who raped 11 local children. The pardon came at the request of Spain’s King Juan Carlos.

Spanish citizen Daniel Fino Galvan, 64, was jailed for 30 years in 2011 by a court in the city of Kenitra, some 40 kilometers north of the Moroccan capital, Rabat, for raping 11 children, aged between 4 and 15. He was convicted after the videos he made of his crimes were used as evidence.

Moroccans infuriated by the pardon gathered in their thousands to the center of Rabat on Friday, where they clashed with police in front of the parliament building. Dozens of protesters, including reporters and photographers, were injured in clashes after police were ordered to disperse the rally….
http://rt.com/news/morocco-pedophile-pardon-protests-991/

Judge sentences Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro to life, plus 1,000 years, Diaries kept by Ariel Castro’s captives paint picture of torment, trauma, Aboriginal children used in medical tests, commissioner says

Judge sentences Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro to life, plus 1,000 years By Drew Griffin, Chelsea J. Carter and Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN  Thu August 1, 2013

Cleveland (CNN) — In handing down a sentence of life in prison plus 1,000 years to Ariel Castro, an Ohio judge told the kidnapper on Thursday that there was no place in the world for his brand of criminal.

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in connection with the kidnapping and abuse of Michelle Knight, Georgina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, whom he held captive for a decade in his Cleveland home. As part of the plea deal, the death penalty was taken off the table.

“You don’t deserve to be out in our community,” Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Russo said after an hours-long hearing in which Castro, at times, appeared to defend his actions. “You’re too dangerous.”

In his oft-disjointed statement to the court, Castro referred to himself as “very emotional” and “a happy person inside.”

Despite his repeated insistence that he wasn’t making excuses for his conduct, Castro played the victim….

Russo handed down the stiffest sentence allowed as part of the deal after investigators, psychologists and one of the victims painted a horrifying picture of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Castro, including brutal beatings and repeated rapes that resulted in pregnancies that he would terminate by punching the women in the stomach.

All three women kept diaries, with Castro’s permission, that provided many of the details of their abuse….

In a pre-sentencing evaluation, Dr. Frank Ochberg, a pioneer in trauma science, wrote that Knight suffered “the longest and most severely.”

“It was Michelle who served as doctor, nurse, midwife and pediatrician during the birth (of Berry’s child). She breathed life into that infant when she wasn’t breathing,” he wrote. “At other times, she interceded when Castro sought to abuse Gina, interposing herself and absorbing physical and sexual trauma. But each survivor had a will to prevail and used that will to live through the ordeal.”….

Wearing eyeglasses and an orange prison uniform, the shackled Castro characterized his crimes in a far gentler light than did the book-length indictment against him: “I’m not a violent person. I simply kept them there so they couldn’t leave.”

Testimony from authorities and mental health experts didn’t jibe with Castro’s recollection, however. Police recalled how the women were forced to play Russian roulette and how Castro would throw money at them after raping them….
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/01/justice/ohio-castro/index.html

Diaries kept by Ariel Castro’s captives paint picture of torment, trauma
By Emma Lacey-Bordeaux , CNN Thu August 1, 2013

(CNN) — Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus weren’t in the Cleveland courtroom Thursday for the sentencing of their captor, Ariel Castro. But their words, recorded in diaries, gave authorities a window into the horror they suffered for a decade.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty wrote about the diaries in a sentencing memo. Berry, DeJesus and Michelle Knight did “everything humanly possible to retain a sense of normalcy” McGinty said, including marking the passage of time through written diaries.

The diaries provide further details of the women’s life and torment. McGinty reveals that one diary’s descriptions of abuse provided evidence his office used for many of the specific counts against Castro.

Castro has pleaded guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping, rape and murder. Diaries kept by the women contain descriptions of these crimes, including sexual abuse, being locked in a dark room and being chained to a wall. McGinty says other entries contain anticipation of abuse yet to come, including Castro’s death threats. But the diaries also showed traces of hope, including “the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family.”

Amanda Berry’s entries focused on her mother, according to psychiatrist Frank Ochberg’s assessment of the women’s captivity as part of the sentencing statement. Ochberg, an expert in trauma, wrote that the diaries showed the women’s “will to prevail.”….
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/01/justice/castro-diaries/index.html

Aboriginal children used in medical tests, commissioner says
Truth and Reconciliation Commission seeks further documentation on tests
CBC News Jul 31, 2013

Aboriginal Canadians were not only subjected to nutritional experiments by the federal government in the 1940s and 1950s but were also used as medical test subjects, says the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In an interview with CBC Radio’s All Points West on Tuesday, Justice Murray Sinclair told host Jo-Ann Roberts that commission staff has “seen the documents that relate to the experiments that were conducted in residential schools.”

Other documents related to experimentation in aboriginal communities outside of residential schools have not yet been obtained, Sinclair said.

“We do know that there were research initiatives that were conducted with regard to medicines that were used ultimately to treat the Canadian population. Some of those medicines were tested in aboriginal communities and residential schools before they were utilized publicly.”
Sinclair said some of those medicines developed were then withheld from the same aboriginal children they were originally tested on….

The residential schools system, which ran from the 1870s until the 1990s, removed about 150,000 aboriginal children from their families and sent them to church-run schools under a deliberate policy of “civilizing” First Nations.

Many students were physically, mentally and sexually abused. Some committed suicide. Mortality rates reached 50 per cent at some schools….
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/07/31/medical-testing-on-aboriginals-murray-sinclair-trc.html