courts

Jury out in sports coach rape case

courts

Published: Thu 18 Jul 2024, 9:01 AM

- Sonya McLean -

The jury in the trial of a sports coach accused of raping and sexually assaulting a teenage girl 35 years ago has begun its deliberations at the Central Criminal Court.

The 78-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty at the to one count of rape and 15 counts of indecent assault in a school on dates between October 1989 and October 1990. The complainant was between 13 and 14 years old at the time.

During the trial, the jury were told to acquit the man by direction of the trial judge of four of those charges, following legal argument, leaving the jury to consider one offence of rape and 11 charges of indecent assault. The date of the offences was also changed to October 1989 to June 1990.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Melanie Greally with the jury expected to return today (Thursday) to continue consideration of the verdicts.