THE man accused of kidnapping three women and holding them in captivity for a decade has appeared in public for the first time.
Former school bus driver Ariel Castro, 52, appeared at Cleveland Municipal Court in Ohio charged with kidnap and rape. He was ordered to be held on an $8 million (£5.15m) bond.
It was his first appearance in public since three women – Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight – escaped from the Cleveland house on Monday. Ms Berry's six-year-old daughter, born in captivity, was also freed.
Initially, Castro's two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50, were also arrested as suspects in the case but police said they were not charged after investigators determined they had no knowledge of the abductions or captivity of the women.
They appeared in court yesterday on unrelated outstanding misdemeanour charges and were released.
Ariel Castro was formally charged on Wednesday with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape.
His lawyer, Kathleen DeMetz, told the court he was unemployed. Castro was sacked from his job driving school buses last November. He was being kept on a suicide watch, and his lawyer said she expected him to be kept in isolation in jail.
Officials said the three women were at times bound in chains or rope and endured starvation, beatings, sexual assaults and in the case of one of them, several miscarriages deliberately induced by their captor.
Their imprisonment came to an end on Monday after neighbours, drawn to the house by cries for help, broke through a door to rescue Ms Berry, whose disappearance in 2003 the day before her 17th birthday was widely publicised in the local media.
The recording of her frantic emergency call that evening, declaring, "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here. I'm free now", has been replayed countless times on news broadcasts around the world.
Rescued along with Ms Berry, now 27, was her six-year-old daughter, conceived and born during her confinement in a plastic inflatable children's swimming pool on Christmas Day, 2006.
Also freed were Ms DeJesus, 23, who vanished aged 14 in 2004 and Ms Knight, 32, who was 20 when she went missing in 2002.
Ms Berry told police her escape had been her first chance to break free in the 10 years she was held, seizing the opportunity during Castro's absence.
The women also told police their abductions occurred when Castro offered them rides and they accepted, authorities said.
On Wednesday, Ms Berry and Ms DeJesus were glimpsed by TV cameras being taken to celebrations with family members. Ms Berry and her daughter were at her sister's house and Ms DeJesus was at her mother's home.
Ms Knight remained in hospital, where she was said to be in a good condition.
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