A County Clare man has been found not guilty of sexually abusing his partner’s young daughter.
The 40 year old was cleared by a jury at the Central Criminal Court for the alleged rape and assault of the girl at various locations in Clare over a number of years.
After three hours of deliberating the jury of nine men and three women returned not guilty verdicts on all 18 charges against the 40 year old.
During the six day trial the now 19 year old said she was raped by the accused on many occasions several times a week at the various houses they lived in across Clare from December 1998 when she was eight until May 2005.
However during evidence, the accused man’s mother told the court when asked about an alleged incident of sexual assault in a bedroom at her home during Christmas 1998, that she "would not have allowed" her son, the accused, and the alleged victim to sleep in the same room.
The jury in the trial deliberated the evidence for several hours yesterday afternoon before acquitting the Clare man on all the counts against him
Mr Justice John Edwards then told him he was free to go and thanked the jurors for their care and attention through out the case
