A RETRIAL IS to take place in the case of a man accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl two decades ago.

The case concluded last Friday with a jury finding the man guilty on one charge of sexual assault, but it could not come to a decision on five other sexual assault charges.

Waterford Circuit Criminal Court previously heard that the assaults were alleged to have taken place on a series of unknown dates during 2004 and 2005 when the then-teenager was involved in the community organisation where the man was employed in the south of the country.

The accused has strongly denied all charges.

Today, Judge Eugene O’Kelly was told that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has instructed that a retrial should take place for the remaining five counts.

The judge heard there may also be a change of venue for the retrial. No date has been set for when the retrial may take place.

State solicitor Frank Hutchinson for the prosecution said that there may also be “submissions to venue and timescale, but it will be going for a retrial at a course convenient” to the court’s schedule.

The judge adjourned the case until 13 January and remanded the accused man on continuing bail.

Deadlocked jury

The accused man was found guilty of having groped the girl on her bottom when she was 16 as she was getting out of a car in 2005.

This was alleged to have been the final sexual assault carried out on the girl when she was aged 15 and 16 in the mid-2000s.

The jury was deadlocked on five other allegations, which were said to have happened at locations including the man’s car, the community organisation’s premises and at his home.

Strict reporting restrictions have been ordered by the judge to prevent identifying the complainant and the accused.

The accused man has maintained that there were “shifting timelines” in the complainant’s accounts of the different alleged incidents.

The defence’s case was that the man did have a relationship with the complainant, but only when she turned 17. The man was aged in his late 30s at the time.

It was heard in court that this was allowed by the community organisation if they deemed the younger partner was “not vulnerable” and did not receive “favourable treatment” such as gifts.

The complainant – now in her mid 30s – accepted that there was a relationship after reaching her adult years but alleged that the man had originally started “grooming” her when she was 14.