Woman weeps as man she accused of sexually assaulting her as a child found not guilty

Judge directed jury to find the 46-year-old man not guilty of sexually assaulting the complainant when she was aged about seven years old on March 1, 2009, at her home in Co Cork

The judge agreed with the defence submission that there was a critical contradiction within the State’s own case and he said this critically impaired the prosecution case. Picture: iStock

A young woman wept in court as the trial judge directed the jury to find the man she accused of sexually assaulting her as a child not guilty of the offence.

Defence barrister Sinead Behan submitted in a legal application in the absence of the jury at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the complainant had linked the alleged incident to a specific occasion when others were present and specific elements including the breaking of glass and the presence in the house of a man with a rope.