His mother Valentina Cheskidova, 72, faces up to 15 years in prison for being complicit in the kidnapping, according to Russian law enforcement. She was however bailed by the court and faces travel restrictions.

(Trigger Warning: The following story includes a description of mental distress and torture, which may be distressing to some readers.)

New Delhi: A Russian man was arrested for keeping a woman as a sex slave in a makeshift dungeon for 14 years. Vladimir Cheskidov, 51, was taken into custody after the woman managed to escape from his home in the village of Smoleno, according to the New York Post.

According to Russia Today, the woman told police officials she bravely fled from a “maniac” after being held captive for 14 years in a locked room located in his home. The woman, identified only by her first name, Ekaterina, alleges that the man, Vladimir Cheskidov, regularly raped her and even butchered another woman on his property.

The now 33-year-old woman told police that Cheskidov allegedly kept her in captivity since 2009 when she was 19. She told authorities that she was raped more than 1,000 times. The only time she was allowed out of a padlocked bedroom with bars on the windows was to perform house chores at knifepoint, she claimed.

During a hearing on Tuesday, the accused cried in court and claimed that he and the captive shared a “mutual love” for each other. He claimed he had a ‘consensual’ and ‘loving’ relationship with Ekaterina. When asked if he raped her, he replied ‘no’.

How did she end up in his house?

According to Ekaterina’s harrowing account, she met Cheskidov at a bus depot in Chelyabinsk, where he lured her to his house under the pretext of having drinks. Once there, he brandished a knife and declared her his hostage.

Cheskidov had apparently been looking for a young woman to kidnap, someone who would not likely be reported missing. Ekaterina, coming from a troubled background, with a congenital clubfoot and a homely appearance, unfortunately fit his criteria, the New York Post reported.

Ekaterina claimed that she was kept captive mostly inside a bedroom secured with a heavy barn padlock. Cheskidov would only allow her to perform house chores at knifepoint, including cooking, cleaning, and taking care of his elderly mother, who also lived in the house.

Whenever Cheskidov left the house, he would duct-tape Ekaterina’s mouth and tie her to a beam to prevent her from escaping. The woman stated that Cheskidov also forced her to consume alcohol and physically assaulted her to the extent that she forgot all her relatives’ contact information, the report said.

Killed another woman in 2011

During a search of Cheskidov’s property, authorities found a collection of sex toys, muzzles, and CDs containing pornography, reported the New York Post.

She alleged that Cheskidov had murdered another woman named Oksana in 2011 and claimed she was forced at knifepoint to help Cheskidov dismember and dispose of Oksana’s corpse, according to the victim’s testimony. Human remains were later discovered in the basement of Cheskidov’s home.

The remains of Oksana, who was in her 30s, were found in a cellar at the property and were chopped up and boiled. Pictured is a room in the house

She lived like a queen, says his mother

His mother Valentina Cheskidova, 72, faces up to 15 years in prison for being complicit in the kidnapping, according to Russian law enforcement. She was however bailed by the court and faces travel restrictions.

She refuted claims that her son had mistreated Ekaterina, telling reporters from the dock that she had lived with them voluntarily. ‘She joined my son and lived like a queen. No-one kept her. She lived [with us] at her own free will,’ she said. “We have all the doors open [in the house] – come in, run away. Every day it was like this,” she was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.

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