Psychiatrist: Castro victims will have lifetime issues

Gary Strauss | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Michelle Knight to Castro: Your hell is just beginning Michelle Knight, one of Ariel Castro's kidnapping and rape victims, spoke at his sentencing Thursday, saying that her hell is over but his is just beginning.

Victims suffered from Stockholm Syndrome%2C he says

Amanda Berry was %22heroic%22 for raising Castro%27s child under duress

Psychiatrist testifies at sentencing hearing that victims are %22compelling examples of resilience%22

Ariel Castro's kidnap victims, who suffered sexual, emotional and physical abuse for more than a decade, will likely suffer for the rest of their lives.

Frank Ochberg, a psychiatrist who specializes in Stockholm Syndrome, says Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are "marvelous, compelling examples of resilience."

"With love and support ... they have a good chance to have a good life ... but the damage that was done does not go away. They have life sentences. ... They have a good chance to have a good life. But that doesn't mean they will every be free of the damage that's been done,'' Ochberg said.

Knight, now 32, later testified, telling Castro that while he put his victims through 11 years of hell, "your hell is just beginning."

Ochberg said the victims were forced to bond with Castro to cope and survive, a classic symbol of Stockholm Syndrome.

Knight said that her ordeal was helped by the friendship she fostered with the other victims, which provided a sliver of hope when Castro told them that their families and law enforcement had abandoned them.

His testimony came at Castro's sentencing hearing on more than 937 charges, including kidnapping, rape and aggravated murder. Castro, 53, pleaded guilty to the charges last week to avoid a death sentence. Under terms of the plea deal, he'll receive a life sentence, plus 1,000 years, with no chance for parole.

Earlier, a series of law enforcement officials who interviewed the victims and Castro detailed how fearful the women were after they were discovered.

Berry, DeJesus and Knight were kidnapped between 2002 and 2004, lured into Castro's car with the promise of a ride or in Knight's case, a puppy for her child. The three were held captive in Castro's Seymour Avenue home in Cleveland until Berry managed to alert a neighbor on May 6.

While in captivity, Berry gave birth to Castro's daughter, now 6. Knight was repeatedly beaten after becoming pregnant and miscarried five times.

It's unclear if the three will testify at the sentencing hearing.

Ochberg said Knight, in particularly, had suffered under Castro. Aside from being beaten into miscarrying, she had been under severe pressure to help Berry deliver her child in a plastic swimming pool in Castro's basement. "What she did was extraordinary. She was doctor, nurse and midwife. She brought to life (Berry's) child."

Berry, Ochberg said, was able to teach her child "values and faith and schooling' with the milk of human kindness, despite her ongoing ordeal.

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