Accused sex cult leader Lawrence Ray allegedly forced victims to wear diapers after admonishing them for acting like children, a court heard.
The trial of a father accused of running a cult out of his daughter’s dorm room began with disturbing witness testimony and continued with a dramatic delay after the accused collapsed in court.
Mr Ray was taken out of a Manhattan federal court on a stretcher after on Tuesday, with his defence attorney saying he suffered a seizure earlier in the day. He returned two hours later wearing an oxygen mask to continue hearing witnesses’ accounts.
Santos Rosario, who had been dating Mr Ray’s daughter Talia, alleged in court that he and his sister were made to wear diapers in 2014, shortly before he escaped the cult.
“I don’t remember the context or what we were being blamed for this time," Rosario said on Monday, according to The New York Post.
"But Larry said that me and my sister were supposedly acting like children," he continued. His sisters, Felicia and Yalitza, allegedly fell under Mr Ray’s control after being introduced by his daughter in 2010.
"He had Isabella put diapers on us,” Mr Rosario added, referencing Mr Ray’s accused “lieutenant” Isabella Pollok.
Mr Rosario alleged that he and sister Felicia were forced to sit in the Upper East Side apartment in nothing but diapers.
"We just waited there until Larry said we could take them off,” Mr Rosario told the court, The New York Daily News reported.
The episode led Mr Rosario, 30, to leave the cult after five years of what he alleged were lengthy interrogations, physical abuse and sexual humiliation.
Mr Rosario alleged Mr Ray hit him with a hammer, held a knife to his genitals, called his "scum", and urged him to kill himself. A video showed to the court showed Mr Rosario repeatedly slapping himself in the face at the alleged direction of Mr Ray.
"I couldn’t take it anymore," Mr Rosario said of the alleged abuse.
"These interrogations with Larry started getting scarier and longer. And I couldn’t articulate at the time but I was terrified to be there. So I just looked for an opportunity to run away."
Mr Ray has pleaded not guilty to 17 various counts of racketeering, sex trafficking and conspiracy.
The trial continues.
