Man cleared of rape in Clare hotel
A south Dublin man has been cleared by a jury after 39 minutes deliberations of raping a woman who claimed she thought she was having sex with a man she fancied in a luxury Clare hotel.
The 40-year-old man, who was among the same wedding party as the complainant with a large group of other people, denied in evidence at the Central Criminal Court that he raped the now 30-year-old woman on March 30, 2003 in a hotel bedroom.
"If that girl had said stop I would have stopped. If she said ‘no’ I would have stopped," he said.
Mr Justice Barry White told him he was free to go and exempted the five women and seven men from further jury service for 10 years unless any of them wished to serve again in that time.
Mr Justice White also agreed to a request by Mr Padraig Dwyer BL, defending, to hear an application on Wednesday next on behalf of the accused for his costs against the State as a result of the seven-day trial.
