Michele Knight Castro Cleveland
Michele Knight, one of the three kidnapped women, pauses to wipe away tears as she read her statement during sentencing of her kidnapper Ariel Castro at a court hearing in Cleveland,

Michelle Knight gave an emotional statement before a Cleveland court, where she faced the man who held her captive and abused her for more than a decade and told him "your hell is just beginning".

Knight was kidnapped by Ariel Castro in 2002 aged 21. Castro locked her up and raped in his home-dungeon at 2207 Seymour Avenue, with another two women, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus, who were also separately abducted by the 52-year-old former school bus-driver in the early 2000s'.

"I can forgive you but I'll never forget," Knight told Castro speaking before Cuyahoga County Court at his sentencing.

Knight, 32 broke into tears shortly after she started reading her statement. It was the first time she had laid eyes on her captor, since being freed earlier this year.

"You took 11 years of my life away and I have got it back," she said. "I spent 11 years in Hell, now your hell is just beginning."

"I will overcome all this that happened but you will face hell for eternity. From this moment on, I will not let you define me or affect who I am. I will live on. You will die a little every day as you think about the 11 years and atrocities you inflicted on us," Knight added.

Cleveland police detective Andy Harasimchuk told the Court that Castro lured Knight into his house under the pretext of giving her a puppy as a present for her son.

Once inside Knight Castro chained and sexually abused her.

Knight's son was two-years-old when she was kidnapped, now 13 he lives in foster care.

"I miss my son every day," she told the court.

"I cried every night. I was so alone," Knight said.

"He told me that my family didn't care," she said. "Christmas was the most traumatic day because I never got to spend it with my son." She concluded thanking everyone who supported her upon regaining her freedom.

Castro has pleaded guilty to 937 charges, including murder, rape, kidnap and assault.