Twenty years after Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted while walking to her school bus stop, the couple who kidnapped and raped her and stole her childhood have been sentenced to prison terms that could keep them behind bars for the rest of their lives.
Phillip Garrido, 60, a serial predator, was sentenced to 431 years to life in jail. His wife, Nancy, 55, was sentenced to 36 years to life and cannot be given parole until she is in her 70s.
The Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister in Eldorado County said Garrido ''lacks a soul'' and his actions were ''beyond horrible''.
Terry Probyn, Dugard's mother, described her daughter's attacker as ''the epitome of disgust … some evil being''.
And Ms Dugard, in a defiant statement read by her mother during the emotional hearing, said the man who kidnapped her as a sex slave, raped her over a period of years, videotaped many of the attacks and fathered her two children ''stole my life''.
''To you, Phillip, I say … I hated every second of every day of 18 years because of you,'' said Ms Dugard, who was 11 when she was abducted. ''To you, Nancy, I have nothing to say. As I think of all those years, I am angry. You stole my life and that of my family.''
Ms Dugard, now 31, did not attend the hearing, she said, ''because I refuse to waste another second of my life in your presence''.
The Garridos abducted Ms Dugard on June 10, 1991, in her South Lake Tahoe neighbourhood while her horrified stepfather leapt on a bicycle in pursuit. The case made international headlines when Ms Dugard resurfaced with her children in August 2009, after a policewoman spotted Garrido acting oddly with the little girls.
During the hearing on Thursday, Ms Dugard's captors sat flanked by their lawyers. The room was packed with reporters, cameras, a few of Ms Dugard's family and Katie Callaway Hall, whom Garrido was convicted of raping in 1976.
Ms Dugard's aunt, Tina, told the hearing the abduction left the entire family ''under a cloud of despair'' and killed Tina's mother, Ms Dugard's grandmother. ''My mum died less than a year after Jaycee was stolen from us,'' she said. ''My mother died of a broken heart. Facing life without her beloved Jaycee was more than my mum could handle.''
The most heart-wrenching testimony came from Ms Probyn. She and Carl Probyn, Ms Dugard's stepfather, were divorced after the abduction. He has said the crime and its aftermath ''ended'' their marriage.
Ms Probyn talked about the joy she felt on when her daughter was born - ''a gift from God''.
The day Ms Dugard was taken, Ms Probyn said, ''My world went dark, and my sunshine was taken away.'' Ms Probyn said the months and years of not knowing her daughter's fate were ''hell on this earth''.
''I could hear her crying, but not with my ears, with my heart,'' she said. ''I could feel her pain, not with my body, but with my heart. I endured a huge gaping hole in my heart, that some evil being put their hand in and ripped it out.''
Nancy Garrido sobbed through much of the sentencing and looked Ms Dugard's mother and aunt in the eye as the two described the impact on their family. The reason, said Stephen Tapson, her lawyer, was that she wanted them to know she was sorry.
Reading her statement in court and speaking with reporters later, Mr Tapson said that Garrido ''wanted Jaycee to know she is sorry for what she did, that there is no way to express that. I stole your life, and there's no way to explain it away.''
Phillip Garrido, 60, a serial predator, was sentenced to 431 years to life in jail. His wife, Nancy, 55, was sentenced to 36 years to life and cannot be given parole until she is in her 70s.
The Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister in Eldorado County said Garrido ''lacks a soul'' and his actions were ''beyond horrible''.
Terry Probyn, Dugard's mother, described her daughter's attacker as ''the epitome of disgust … some evil being''.
And Ms Dugard, in a defiant statement read by her mother during the emotional hearing, said the man who kidnapped her as a sex slave, raped her over a period of years, videotaped many of the attacks and fathered her two children ''stole my life''.
''To you, Phillip, I say … I hated every second of every day of 18 years because of you,'' said Ms Dugard, who was 11 when she was abducted. ''To you, Nancy, I have nothing to say. As I think of all those years, I am angry. You stole my life and that of my family.''
Ms Dugard, now 31, did not attend the hearing, she said, ''because I refuse to waste another second of my life in your presence''.
The Garridos abducted Ms Dugard on June 10, 1991, in her South Lake Tahoe neighbourhood while her horrified stepfather leapt on a bicycle in pursuit. The case made international headlines when Ms Dugard resurfaced with her children in August 2009, after a policewoman spotted Garrido acting oddly with the little girls.
During the hearing on Thursday, Ms Dugard's captors sat flanked by their lawyers. The room was packed with reporters, cameras, a few of Ms Dugard's family and Katie Callaway Hall, whom Garrido was convicted of raping in 1976.
The most heart-wrenching testimony came from Ms Probyn. She and Carl Probyn, Ms Dugard's stepfather, were divorced after the abduction. He has said the crime and its aftermath ''ended'' their marriage.
Ms Probyn talked about the joy she felt on when her daughter was born - ''a gift from God''.
The day Ms Dugard was taken, Ms Probyn said, ''My world went dark, and my sunshine was taken away.'' Ms Probyn said the months and years of not knowing her daughter's fate were ''hell on this earth''.
''I could hear her crying, but not with my ears, with my heart,'' she said. ''I could feel her pain, not with my body, but with my heart. I endured a huge gaping hole in my heart, that some evil being put their hand in and ripped it out.''
Nancy Garrido sobbed through much of the sentencing and looked Ms Dugard's mother and aunt in the eye as the two described the impact on their family. The reason, said Stephen Tapson, her lawyer, was that she wanted them to know she was sorry.
Reading her statement in court and speaking with reporters later, Mr Tapson said that Garrido ''wanted Jaycee to know she is sorry for what she did, that there is no way to express that. I stole your life, and there's no way to explain it away.''
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