RAPIST, WHO LEFT GIRL BLIND, GETS 120 YEARS

Patrick Sykes, 29, was sentenced to 120 years for the brutal 1997 attack on a 9-year-old girl that left her blind and nearly paralyzed after he poured roach killer down her throat.  The girl, who is now 14, is unable to see or speak but testified at trial by nodding her head and lifting her eyebrows to answer questions.  Sykes lived in a downstairs apartment from the girl and lured her in with an offer of a banana.  After the attack he scrawled gang signs with a pen on the girl's body in an attempt to fool investigators.  At his sentencing, Sykes repeated his plea of innocence.

(Chicago, Illinois)