CLEVELAND — A former schoolbus driver who pleaded guilty to more than 900 counts, including aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape, after imprisoning three women in his west Cleveland house for a decade, gave a rambling justification for his crimes at his sentencing hearing Thursday, denying that he was depraved or violent and saying instead that there had been “a lot of harmony in that house.”

Afterward, the man, Ariel Castro, 53, was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional 1,000 years by Judge Michael Russo of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The punishment was the result of a plea deal between Castro and prosecutors that allowed Castro to avoid a possible death sentence.

Earlier testimony from law enforcement officers, one of the victims and other victims’ relatives painted a picture of Castro as terrifying and sadistic, a man who kidnapped the three women, repeatedly beating and raping them, and often keeping them chained to a pole in the basement of his house.

The victim who spoke, Michelle Knight, read from a statement, her words punctuated by sobs, telling the court that while she might be able to eventually forgive Castro, she would always remember what he had done to her and the two other women.

“You took 11 years of my life away,” she said. “I spent 11 years of hell. Now your hell is just beginning.”

She added, “I will not let you define me or affect who I am.”

Castro claimed that he had not forced himself on the women, two of whom were teenagers — ages 14 and 16 — when he abducted them.

“The sex that went on at the house, practically all of it was consensual,” he said. “There were times they would even ask me for sex.”

He insisted that he was neither evil nor violent, but that he had been a victim of childhood sexual abuse and became addicted to pornography.

“I was driven by sex,” he told the court, saying that during some periods of his life he had spent several hours a day masturbating and watching pornography.

“These people are trying to paint me as a monster,” Castro said. “I’m not a monster. I’m sick.”

Castro also apologized to the victims — Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus — several times and at one point began to cry.

Knight showed no emotion as Castro denied that he had kidnapped or raped the women.

After Castro had stopped speaking, the judge congratulated Knight on her restraint.