Teenage boy found not guilty of raping girl, 15

After an eight-day trial at the Central Criminal Court, a jury of nine women and three men returned not guilty verdicts on both counts. File picture.

 A jury has found a teenage boy not guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl in a public park.

The defendant, now aged 17, told gardaí after meeting the girl for the first time at a local shopping centre that they were kissing and the girl then suggested they go into a nearby park where she then suggested sex.

He said he was physically unable to have penetrative sex but said the girl masturbated him. He said he didn't know her name and described her as “more locked than I was”.

In her evidence the complainant, now aged 16, testified that she was happy to kiss the boy but did not want to do anything else. She said he led her into the bushes and forced her to have sex with him and that she was too drunk to stop him.

Not guilty plea

The accused had pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault at a park in south Dublin on April 13, 2019. None of the parties can be identified as they are juveniles.

After an eight-day trial at the Central Criminal Court, a jury of nine women and three men returned not guilty verdicts on both counts. The jury had deliberated for just under four hours.

Shortly before returning the verdicts, the jury foreman had told Ms Justice Eileen Creedon that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. She then directed that the court could accept a majority verdict on which ten or more agreed.

'Accomplished repeated liar'

In his closing speech for the prosecution Garnet Orange SC told the jury that the defendant showed himself to be an “accomplished repeated liar” through his three interviews with gardaí ten days after the alleged rape.

He told jurors they should treat the account he gave in the final interview with extreme caution.

Michael Bowman SC, defending, told the jury that at the time of the interviews his client was a 16-year-old boy with no previous convictions being held in garda custody. He said his answers to garda questions were the answers of someone afraid to acknowledge or say anything, even the fact that he owns a Snapchat account.

He said that in her own evidence the complainant gave a “fantastic insight into the teenage mind” which amounted to “teenagers lie so that they don't get into trouble”.