Builder guilty of raping wife's niece

A Midlands builder has been found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping his wife's then 15year-old niece in…

A Midlands builder has been found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping his wife's then 15year-old niece in his house seven years ago.

The jury convicted him by a 10-2 majority of raping the now 22-year-old woman on a date between January 1st10th, 1994.

It also convicted the 42year-old man of sexually assaulting her on the same occasion. The defendant had denied the charges.

Mr Justice O Caoimh remanded him on continuing bail for sentence on April 4th next. He also directed the defendant to surrender any passport he might hold and to sign-on three times weekly at his local Garda station. Victim impact and probation reports are to be prepared for the sentence hearing.