Man acquitted of oral rape due to legal loophole

A JUDGE has accused the Oireachtas of failing to protect the vulnerable as a loophole in the law forced him to acquit a man of allegedly orally raping a woman with an intellectual disability before a jury could even consider its verdict.

The 61-year-old accused had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the now 23-year-old woman by penetrating her mouth with his penis on December 11, 2008.

The prosecution alleged the man had asked the young woman, who has an intellectual age of 8-9 years, to follow him outside and then repeatedly asked her to perform a “blow job”.