Jury fails to reach verdict on 52 charges of rape and sexual assault of child against Waterford man

The man, who is in his 50s, was found guilty of one charge of sexual assault

The child, surrounded by members of her family, wept in court as the verdict was returned at the Central Criminal Court in Waterford on Tuesday afternoon. File picture

The jury in the case of a man accused of 53 counts of rape and sexual assault of a child has failed to reach a verdict on 52 charges after deliberating for over 10 hours.

The jury found the man guilty of one charge of sexual assault at a residential address in Waterford between January 1, 2005, and March 19, 2005. The decision was a split one, with a 10-2 majority.

The man cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim. The child, surrounded by members of her family, wept in court as the verdict was returned at the Central Criminal Court in Waterford on Tuesday afternoon.

The man, who is in his 50s, has been remanded on continuing bail.

The 52 charges on which agreement could not be reached have been sent back to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further instruction. The case has been adjourned to the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on May 18.

The charges related to dates between the summer of 1999 and March 2005. The jury sat through four days of evidence last week, before being sent out to deliberate on Friday.

By the time the verdict was delivered at lunchtime on Tuesday, they had been deliberating for 10 hours and four minutes. Judge Patrick McGrath told them they would be exempt from jury service for five years.

He said: “This has obviously been a very difficult case. It is clear that you have put in a huge amount of thought into the consideration of this matter.

“It is important that you realise how important it is that it is people who are selected from the community. It is not always easy and it may not have been easy in this particular case because it is a case with a lot of considerable issues you have had to consider. 

“It is not infrequent that juries cannot reach agreement. That is the way of the world. The consequences are matters not for you. It is a question for someone else to decide whether the matter will come back to court or not.” 

He told the jury members that they “had done the best you can”, adding that he cannot give them any payment but could give them a certificate of exemption from jury service for five years.

Earlier on Tuesday, a member of the jury wished to speak to the trial judge alone. However, Judge McGrath said he was not allowed to speak privately to any member of a jury in any case, adding that what happens in a jury room is “sacrosanct”.