A man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl while he was a teenager has been found not guilty of all charges in Tralee Circuit Court.
The 24-year-old defendant was on trial for six counts of sexual assault on a female under the age of 15 between 2011 and 2014.
The complainant in this case was aged between 12 and 14 at the time of the alleged incidents.
The accused, who was represented by Tralee solicitor Pat Mann, was aged between 14 and 16 during the time period in question.
The families of the two parties were close friends and neighbours before the allegations were made.
One of the incidents was said to have occurred on a bouncy castle at a child’s birthday party, while another allegedly happened in the bed of the defendant’s sister, who was also in the bed at the time.
The court had previously heard that the defendant had a childhood crush on the complainant, but never acted inappropriately towards her.
Addressing the jury of nine women and three men, Judge Catherine Staines said they must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the offences, or otherwise acquit the defendant.
After two hours of deliberations Judge Staines told the jury it could return a majority verdict in which at least 10 jurors were agreed.
The complainant was not present in court when a verdict of not guilty was delivered.
