A jury in the Central Criminal Court has found an Offaly man not guilty of the oral rape and sexual assault of a teenage schoolgirl in 1997. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a third charge that he raped the girl on the same occasion on May 3rd, 1997. It was the third day of the trial and the jury took almost 21/2 hours to reach its decisions.
The 21-year-old single unemployed man had denied the offences which were alleged to have happened in his flat after he met the girl at a disco in Tullamore. Mr Justice Smith remanded him on continuing bail to FEBRUARY 26th for the listing of a new trial on the outstanding rape charge.