Kildare teen not guilty of rape

A Kildare teenager has been acquitted of raping two 15-year-old girls at a secluded place in the Curragh but found guilty of having sex with them while they were minors.

A Central Criminal Court jury found the 19-year-old man not guilty of raping the girls within eight days of each other after driving them individually to the remote place on January 10 and 18, 2007.

The jury took over three hours to return its verdicts on the rape charges and over seven hours to find him guilty of having sex with minors.

It was day six of the trial and the man cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mr Justice Peter Charleton thanked the seven men and five women of the jury for their service and put the matter back for sentencing next month.