An American chiropractor who has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting six women patients at his Galway city clinic told Galway Circuit Criminal Court that Irish men and women were "hung up" and needed to have more sex.
Joseph Stone (39), from Roswell, New Mexico, who had a chiropractic clinic at Lower Newcastle Road, Galway, told gardai after his arrest that he was the next best thing to Jesus Christ, and 95 per cent of his patients thought so, too.
Stone moved to Ireland in 1997 where he met his future wife, Emeke, a Romanian. They have two children.
Stone said he trained and practised as a chiropractor in the US for 14 years before moving to Galway. Judge Carroll Moran asked if there was a professional body governing chiropractors and if there was a professional code of conduct or ethics for them. He was surprised to learn that there was not and that anyone could open a chiropractic clinic.
Garda Mary Ann O'Boyle gave evidence that Stone was first arrested after two women made complaints in July 1999. She said he at first denied he had acted unprofessionally but later admitted he should not have fondled his clients. He continued to practise in his clinic, and within a few months four more women made complaints against him.
Stone's professional misconduct came to light when two women who had been sexually assaulted by him, one after the other on the same afternoon of July 24th, 1999, went to gardai. He was arrested and questioned the following November.
Mr Francis Comerford, defending, said Stone suffered from a psychiatric disorder known as Bi-Polar Affective Disorder, or mood swings, and was prescribed an anti-depressant at the time he committed these offences. He had been drinking whiskey as well, after hearing his grandfather in the US was dying.
Stone's wife, Emeke, said he was a loving husband and brilliant father who had started behaving strangely at the time he was taking the anti-depressant.
The trial continues next Tuesday when Stone's psychiatrist will give evidence.