A Dublin man was cleared yesterday of raping a woman in Ballymun on St Patrick's Night 1995 when a judge directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty.
Mr Justice Flood made his ruling at the Central Criminal Court following legal submissions from Mr Brendan Grogan SC, defending.
Mr Justice Flood agreed with Mr Grogan that there was an internal conflict in the State's evidence and that it would have been unsafe to allow the case to go to the jury.
The 28 year old man was discharged. He had pleaded not guilty to the rape, oral rape, attempted anal rape and aggravated sexual assault of the 35 year old mother of three during the early hours of March 18th, 1995.