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BARRIE -- Mothers wept in court yesterday when a man accused of sexually assaulting their severely handicapped children was found guilty by a jury.
Joseph Cross, 37, stood stiffly in front of the jury as the foreman repeated "guilty" to 14 counts of sexual assault.
During the trial the jury heard the bizarre story of how Cross left the psychiatric ward of the hospital in Orillia and gave a video statement to police that he would remove the pyjama bottoms and diapers of his handicapped victims to fondle or rape them.
GROUP HOMES
On the video, he told police that he committed the crimes in group homes for the Barrie and District Association for Special Needs where he worked as a residential counsellor in 1997 and 1998.
When the officer asked why he confessed, he answered, "because I can't live with it anymore ... I'm just going to go to jail for this. They'll have their fun with me and then kick the crap out of me."
But shortly after he was arrested, he told police that "voices" in his head made him confess because he was "bad" and so that he would get killed while in prison.
ULTERIOR MOTIVE
In court, Crown attorney Mike Flosman scoffed at the idea of voices and told the jury Cross and his family had an ulterior motive in lying -- so that they could launch a $2.5-million lawsuit against Soldier's Memorial Hospital in Orillia for allowing Cross to go to police while he was a patient there. Cross was being treated for bi-polar depression and was a voluntary patient there.
None of the victims were able to testify against Cross because most were in wheelchairs and unable to speak. The victims ranged between the ages of 14 and 30. Cross is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10.