Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro gets life in prison after emotional hearing

Ariel Castro, the Cleveland bus driver who abducted, imprisoned and tortured three women, was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years with no parole on Thursday, after one of his victims confronted him, saying he had put her through 11 years of hell.

Castro, 53, was alternately defiant and apologetic while showing no remorse in a rambling final statement to the court. Although he said he was sorry for his actions, he insisted “I am not a monster.”

“If you asked my daughter she would say, my dad is the best dad in the world,” Castro said.

“All the sex was consensual,” Castro told the judge before sentencing. “The girls were not virgins. They had multiple sex partners before me.”

Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Russo, describing Castro as suffering from “extreme narcissism,” said the crimes were so extreme that the former school bus driver should never emerge from prison. Castro had pleaded guilty to hundreds of charges for beating and starving victim Michelle Knight to force her to miscarry during pregnancy.