A Co Cork man was found not guilty by direction of a judge yesterday of raping the mother of his child last year. The man pleaded guilty to assaulting the 22-year-old woman in the home they shared and to other assaults later that month. The assaults included putting a knife to her throat and squeezing her neck with his hands.
The defendant, also aged 22, cannot be named for legal reasons. He was remanded on bail to appear at the Central Criminal Court on December 19th.
He had pleaded not guilty to raping the woman on August 9th, 1996. He also denied charges of assault, occasioning her actual bodily harm, on the same date and twice on August 29th, 1996.