Man found guilty of defiling niece, 12

The jury in the case against a man accused of having a sexual relationship with his 12-year-old niece took over four hours of deliberation to return majority verdicts of guilty yesterday.

The defendant pleaded not guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to 15 separate counts — eight for defilement and seven for sexual assault in the latter half of 2011.

The verdicts were delivered after the jury was told that majority verdicts of 11-1 or 10-2 would be acceptable if they could not reach unanimous verdicts.