Three US kidnap victims break silence

[PAULSTANL3Y]

Three US kidnap victims break silence
AFP Updated July 10, 2013, 2:08 am

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Three US women who spent a decade of captivity in a Cleveland home have spoken publicly for the first time since their escape, thanking supporters and asking for continued privacy to rebuild their lives.

The woman who reportedly suffered the most violent abuse at the hands of their captor said she had been to "hell and back" but could now smile about the future.

"Thank you for all your prayers. I am looking forward to my brand new life," said Michelle Knight, who was snatched off the street at the age of 20 and is now 32.

The three women each spoke briefly from notes in the three-minute video posted Tuesday on YouTube by a public relations firm. They thanked people for donating to a fund to help them rebuild their lives after their ordeal.

The women, kidnapped in separate incidents in 2002, 2003 and 2004, escaped in May from the ramshackle house where they had been held in a working class area of Cleveland, Ohio.

The alleged abductor, former school bus driver Ariel Castro, 52, has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, rape and aggravated murder for beating a pregnant Knight until she miscarried.

The stunning case came to light after Amanda Berry, 27, managed to escape with her young daughter by calling out to a neighbor for help through a locked front door.

Berry, who was snatched after leaving work at a fast food restaurant the night before her 17th birthday, did not mention her daughter in the video.

"I want everyone to know how happy I am to be home with my family, my friends. It's been unbelievable," she said, still wearing an eyebrow piercing like the one shown in her missing poster.

"I am getting stronger each day, and having my privacy has helped immensely," Berry said. "I ask that everyone continues to respect our privacy and give us time to have a normal life."

Knight -- who told police that Castro impregnated her five times and then starved and beat her until she miscarried -- smiled repeatedly as she spoke, and said she did not want to be consumed by hatred.

"I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face, and with my head held high and with my feet held firmly on the ground," she said, reading slowly and carefully from her notes.

"We have been hurt by people but we need to rely on God as being the judge."

The third woman, Gina DeJesus, now 23, seemed the most shy of the three, simply thanking people for their support.

She was accompanied by her parents, who did the same and urged parents who have missing children to rely on their neighbors for help.

The women told police they were chained in the basement during their early years of captivity, but eventually were allowed to live unchained upstairs behind locked doors.

They also said that Castro brought in a plastic kiddie pool and forced Berry to give birth in it on Christmas Day 2006. He allegedly forced Knight to assist and told her he would kill her if the baby died.

A DNA test proved that the child is Castro's daughter, and a judge denied his request last week for a prison visit with the girl.

In earlier proceedings, Castro's attorneys conceded many of the more than 300 charges against him. They offered to plead guilty if prosecutors dropped efforts to seek the death penalty with the aggravated murder charges.

Prosecutors have shown no public interest in the offer to avoid a possibly traumatic trial despite the complexities of proving that the fetuses were killed and are preparing to present additional charges to a grand jury.

The judge in the case has tentatively scheduled a jury summons to go out on August 5 but no date for trial has yet been set.