A Galway man charged with repeatedly raping his wife’s teenage sister over the course of four years has been found not guilty.
The 49-year-old accused had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 14 charges of raping the woman on dates between June 12th, 1983, and June 30th, 1986, in a Galway house.
He cannot be named for legal reasons.
After deliberating for five hours and 20 minutes the jury of five women and seven men returned verdicts of not guilty on 10 counts of rape. Verdicts of not guilty by direction of the trial judge were returned on the remaining four counts. Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan thanked the jurors for their careful consideration of the case.
The alleged victim had testified that she was raped up to twice a week for four years from the age of 14.
She told the court that the accused would rape her “whenever he felt like it” and that he threatened to kill her if she told his wife.
The accused told investigators that “the whole thing is pure lies” and also denied threatening her with a flick knife.