Jury in sex abuse case sent home

A jury in the Central Criminal Court trial of a Dublin father accused of sexually abusing three of his children has been sent home for the night after failing to reach a verdict on any of the 96 counts.

The 73-year-old accused man has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting and raping two daughters between the ages of five and 11 and sexually assaulting his son from the age of three to six at various locations from 1997 to 2002.

Mr Justice George Birmingham has already directed the jury to return verdicts of not guilty on 17 counts from the total 113 charges.

Mr Justice Birmingham sent the jury of eight men and four women home for the night after they had been deliberating for almost four and a half hours on day 28 of the trial which is now in it’s seventh week.