A popular Irish celebrity who was accused of the defilement of a 16-year-old girl over a decade ago has been found not guilty.
The 40- year-old entertainer was accused of having oral sex three times with a then 16-year-old at his workplace and home.
The celebrity was accused of sexual contact with a minor when he was a then 27-year-old celebrity after meeting her at a music festival.
The yet-to-be-named celebrity was acquitted of all charges when a jury delivered its verdict today Friday October 20.
According to the Sunday World, the jury delivered its verdict after deliberating following an eight day trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The entertainment industry figure (40) closed his eyes and breathed deeply as he stood and listened to the verdicts being read out. He had pleaded not guilty to charges of defilement of a child under 17 - the legal age of consent - between August and December 2010.
During the trial, the accused denied that the three incidents took place at all, or that he knew the girl was underage at that time.
The accused had told defence counsel Morgan Shelley BL that he met the woman on July 14th, 2010, at an Eminem concert during the Oxegen music festival.
He said the complainant noticed him, then beckoned him over as, “I think she recognised me”.
He said they had a brief chat, then he put his number in her phone. He claimed he noticed she was holding a plastic cup which contained alcohol at the 17+ festival.
He claimed their first meeting after the festival was for lunch and that she had told him by text before this that she was 18.
The man said he was at work on December 14th, 2010. He said he went out for drinks with a colleague afterwards, then took a taxi home around midnight.
When asked by Mr Shelley, the man said he “doesn't recall” arranging tickets for the complainant for the Deadmau5 concert on December 14th, 2010, but that it's “not impossible”.
He said she was not at his house on that date or on any other occasion.
“She was not in that house to the best of my recollection ever,” he said.
The man said the complainant contacted him in late January 2011, suggesting they meet up.
He said he believed they met on January 24th, 2011. He said she told him it had recently been her birthday.
“I said '19 is a no man’s land age, neither here or there'. She said 'I'm not 19, I’m 17'. That was a little bit of a surprise or shock.
“I said, 'You told me you were 18'. She said, 'No I was sweet 16'. It was what it was, it was a bit of a shock.”
He said he'd gotten braces in the days before the lunch occurred: “I got them back on to get the pearly whites. She slagged me and said I 'looked goofy and younger with the braces'.”
He said they went to his workplace after the meal. He denied using the fire escape stairs and said it “did not happen” that he and the woman were in the stairwell together.
He said there was no sexual interaction between him and the complainant on this date. He also denied any sexual interaction between himself and the complainant before this date.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has previously heard that the complainant initially told the man she was 18 when they first met. In her evidence, she said she told him her actual age before they engaged in sexual activity.
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