Man Found Guilty in Assault of ‘Girl X’

A Chicago jury found a 29-year-old man guilty of charges he sexually assaulted and beat a 9-year-old girl, leaving her blind, unable to walk and brain-damaged.

Patrick Sykes showed no emotion as jurors read the verdicts during their second day of deliberations. He was found guilty of four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, and one each of aggravated kidnapping and attempted murder in the January 1997 attack.

The attack left the child, called Girl X in the news media, in a wheelchair and unable to speak. Now 13, she testified during the trial, communicating by raising her head and making eye movements.