Today marks the anniversary of the kidnapping of Ariel Castro victim Amanda Berry, community activists women, including the Imperial Women Coalition, applaud her courage and that of Ariel Castro victims Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, say they hope Castro, who hanged himself in prison, rots in hell, rescue of Berry, Knight and DeJesus came some 3 and a half years after the discovery of Imperial Avenue murder victims in Cleveland

Ariel Castro victim Amanda Berry
Ariel Castro, 53,  at sentencing on August 1, 2013 at the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas at the Justice Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Next to him is one of Castro's court appointed attorney's, though demolition crews found $22,000 when his home on the city's west side was demolished about a week after sentencing. Castro was found dead in his prison cell in September just over a month into his sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.   


 Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog,Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Tel: 216-659-0473 


"We recognize this anniversary of the day of the kidnapping of innocent teen Amanda Berry by monster Ariel Castro less than a mile from her home as a reminder that rape and other violence against women and girls nationally, statewide and locally is an epidemic and we again applaud Amanda, Gina and Michelle for the courage and fortitude to get out alive" ..... Cleveland area community activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Imperial Women Coalition."We again call for additional resources to address this crisis around violence against women and as to Ariel Castro, we are pleased that Mr. Castro has moved on to a better place for himself and we hope he rots in hell."

 
From left, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Today marks the 11-year anniversary of the kidnapping of Ariel Castro victim Amanda Berry on April 21, 2003 blocks from her home on Cleveland's largely White west side while she was leaving her job at the Burger King Restaurant at W. 110th Street and Lorain Avenue. Cleveland teen rapist and kidnapper Castro held Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight captive for a decade at his since demolished home on the city's west side of town until they and Berry's seven-year-old daughter by Castro were rescued by neighbor Charles Ramsey in May of last year.  Ramsey is Black.

Charles Ramsey
A fired Cleveland schools bus driver and hoggishly violent and abusive widower with two grown children, Castro, 53, pleaded guilty to numerous criminal charges, including multiple counts of rape and kidnapping, in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He hanged himself in the Correctional Reception Center in  Orient, Ohio last September, just over a month into his sentence.

Castro admitted at sentencing as part  of a plea deal that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty negotiated in under three months that he raped DeJesus,  Berry and Knight, and he told Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Russo Judge Russo moments before his sentence was handed down, that he and the three girls, and the child he fathered with Berry, were one "happy family." 

The serial rapist had also been charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder and faced the death penalty for allegedly murdering at least three of the unborn fetuses of Knight that he help create through rape and torture.

Over 100 feet of chain was found in the Castro home when police raided it in May.

With a 28th-year birthday coming up on April 22, Berry was nearly 17 when he kidnapped her, DeJesus, who knew his daughter, was 14 and also grew up close to the Castro home like Berry, and Knight, now 32 and a women's advocate spokesperson, was 21 at the time.

The ten- year anniversary of the abduction of DeJesus was April 2. Knight was taken captive nearly a year and a half earlier in August 2002.

Women activists groups of greater Cleveland had no mercy on the child rapist and kidnapper and commented as to the anniversary this year of the day Castro saw fit to snatch Berry and hold her captive for nearly 10 years along with Knight and DeJesus. 

"We recognize this anniversary of the day of the kidnapping of innocent teen Amanda Berry by monster Ariel Castro less than a mile from her home as a reminder that rape and other violence against women and girls nationally, statewide and locally is an epidemic and we again applaud Amanda, Gina and Michelle for the courage and fortitude to get out alive," said Cleveland area community activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Imperial Women Coalition, a grassroots group founded in 2009 around the unprecedented murders of 11 Black women on  Imperial Avenue on the city's largely Black east side by convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell. "We again call for additional resources to address this crisis around violence against women and as to Ariel Castro, we are pleased that Mr. Castro has moved on to a better place for himself and we hope he rots in hell."

Like the home of Castro on Seymour Avenue that he turned over to the county land bank as part of a plea deal, the home of Sowell on Imperial Avenue, the now infamous street by which the Imperial Avenue Murders drew its name , was demolished too. 

Convicted serial killer of 11 Black women Anthony Sowell
A former marine, Sowell (pictured), 53, raped three Black women and strangled and murdered 11 Black women whose bodies began surfacing at his family's home in 2009. He sits on death row  while his appeal of his rape, aggravated murder and other  convictions is before the seven-member largely Republican Ohio Supreme Court, which is led by popular Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Former WOIO 19 Action News Anchor in Cleveland Sharon Reed lands new anchor job, her lawyer says rumors about LeBron James fathering her baby are false, had threatened to sue on her behalf, Reed is famous for posing nude for Spenser Tunick's nude group photo shoot

Corrupt and racist University Heights Mayor Susan Infeld is booted from office by voters following claims of spending irregularities of taxpayers money, racism against Black residents, police abuse of Blacks as city safety director, and of running a theft ring of county residents homes via illegal foreclosure activity led by JPMorgan Chase Bank.....University Heights is a Cleveland suburb....Others involved in the theft ring or retaliation against homeowners who complain include corrupt common pleas judges such as Judges John O'Donnell and Carolyn Friedland, Chief County Foreclosure Magistrate and University Heights Resident Stephen Bucha, and his wife, an attorney with the law firm of Lerner Sampson and Rothfuss, who represents corrupt mortgage companies and banks, including JP Morgan Chase Bank... Others involved include racist and corrupt University Hts Police Sgt Dale Orians, former county prosecutor Bill Mason, who is a partner with Bricker and Eckler, which represents JPMorgan Chase Bank, and current County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley, who was Mason's deputy....Drunken Shaker Heights Judge KJ Montgomery, who also hears criminal cases for University Hts, has Blacks illegally prosecuted who complain of the theft of their homes, as does O'Malley..... Judge Montgomery is top in issuing excessive and illegal warrants against the Black community....All of the aforementioned are corrupt and activists want them indicted and prosecuted....This is Part 1 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

Chief and unfair Cuyahoga County Judge John Russo loses authority-Part 2 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption: New Ohio law on seeking possible removal of a municipal court judge in a case for bias or conflict via the filing of an affidavit of prejudice takes authority to decide from chief Cuyahoga County Presiding Judge John Russo, other chief common pleas judges in Ohio, and hands it to the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, who also determines affidavits of prejudice filed against common pleas, probate, juvenile, domestic relations, and state appellate court judges....Most affidavits of prejudice are denied regardless of the merits and some judges complained of will retaliate, data show... Community activists, led by Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman of the Imperial Women Coalition, lobbied the Cleveland NAACP for support and asked state legislators via state Rep Bill Patmon (D-10) of Cleveland to change the law but wanted a panel of judges and others to decide when a judge in Ohio is disqualified from hearing a case for bias or conflict....Coleman says she has since been further harassed by Chief Cuyahoga County Judge John Russo, who is White and leads a racist and sexist common pleas court fueled with corruption, malicious prosecutions, excessive criminal bonds, ineffective assistance of counsel to poor and Black defendants, and the mass incarceration of the Black community....By www.clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspapers....This is part 2 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption