CHICAGO // Rapist Ariel Castro took “a coward’s way out” when he killed himself in prison, one of the three women he abducted and held captive for a decade said yesterday.
“I understand the reason why he did it,” Michelle Knight said.
“He finally figured out the pain he put us through was the pain he didn’t want to go through.”
Knight was the first of the three women to be snatched off the street in 2002 when she was 20 years old.
“I was the most hated,” she said in the first public interview given by any of the women since their dramatic escape on May 6.
In the second episode of a paid interview with the popular “Dr Phil” television program, the diminutive woman described how she grew close with fellow captive Gina DeJesus after they were chained together in a locked room.
“There was times he would hit her and I would stop him and take the hit,” she said. “I know how it feels to be hurt, and I didn’t want her to go through that.”
She described how DeJesus comforted her after Castro starved her and beat her until she miscarried.
“Every time got worse,” she told celebrity therapist Phil McGraw.
“By the third time I got pregnant, it was kicking, jumping on my stomach like I was a bed,” Knight said.
“He would literally have me lay straight and jump on my stomach.”
Knight said DeJesus - who was 14 when she was kidnapped in 2004 - would try to rub her stomach to ease the pain, but “it just kept on coming like a knife.”
She said nearly died when Castro forced her to eat sandwiches with mustard even though she was allergic to it. Her throat and body swelled up. DeJesus wrapped her arms around Knight, who “begged her to let me die, but she wouldn’t do it.”
She was not close with fellow captive Amanda Berry, who was kidnapped at age 16 in 2003 and bore Castro’s daughter.
“He treated her totally different so she looked at the situation in a different way,” Knight said. “She was one of those girls that really didn’t get it.”
It was Berry who allowed the women to escape after breaking open part of the front door and calling out to a neighbor for help.
Tasting freedom after 11 years of torture was “a roller coaster of mixed emotions,” Knight said.
“I wanted to kiss the ground that I was walking on, and thank God for letting me get out of that hell hole.”
More than 42 kilograms of chains were found in the filthy, darkened home where the women were kept in locked rooms with boarded-up windows.
Castro, 53, pleaded guilty on August 1, after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
He was sentenced to 1,000 years in prison and hanged himself from the window of his prison cell a month later.
* Agence France-Presse
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
