An Irish celebrity has been acquitted of three counts of defilement of an underage girl. The man, who could not be named because of legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty to three counts of engaging in sexual acts with a child under the age of 17 at locations in Dublin between August 2010 and December 2010.
The man, aged 40, denied all three charges against him and pleaded not guilty when the trial began last week.
The court heard evidence that the complainant and the accused knew each other, having met at the Oxegen music festival in July of 2010. The complainant admitted to lying about her age to the accused, and said she believed things between them were “over” when she finally told the man, then 27, that she was actually 16.
The court had heard allegations the man had engaged in oral sex with the complainant when she was under 17 at three separate locations.
On Friday, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, a jury of nine men and three women found the entertainer not guilty of all three charges. The jury took five-and-a-half hours to deliberate on the counts.