Man guilty of sexual assault on sister

The jury in the case against a man accused of 41 counts of sexually assaulting his sister returned guilty verdicts on three of the counts yesterday.

The jury deliberated for three hours and 47 minutes at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork and were about to be sent away at around 4pm when the registrar formally asked if they had reached verdicts on any count on the indictment. The jury foreman indicated that they had reached verdicts on the first three counts. The registrar then read out to the court that they had found the accused guilty on each of the three counts.

The 41 counts on the indictment refer to a 10-year period from 1991 to 2001. The three counts on which they found him guilty referred to the years, 1991 and 1992, when the accused was aged 13 and 14 and his sister was four years younger.