An American chiropractor, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting six female patients at his Galway city clinic, will require life-long treatment for a psychiatric disorder, Galway Circuit Court heard yesterday.
Joseph Stone (39), from Roswell, New Mexico, who operated a clinic at 27 Lower Newcastle Road, Galway since 1998, sexually assaulted the women who had come to him with neck and back problems, on various dates between July 1999, and last March.
He told gardai after his arrest he was the next best thing to Jesus Christ and 95 per cent of his patients thought so too. He said he couldn't understand why the women made complaints about him since he hadn't had sex with any of them. He saw nothing wrong with fondling their breasts, making suggestive remarks or asking them personal questions about their sex lives.
In court yesterday, his psychiatrist, Dr Laura Mannion, said Stone was an emergency admission to the psychiatric unit of University College Hospital, Galway, on May 3rd last. He was diagnosed as suffering from a manic episode of Bi-Polar Affective Disorder. Stone had been first diagnosed as suffering from his disorder in the States in 1989, she said.
The trial continues.