Jury fail to reach verdict in Dublin rape case
The jury in the trial of a Donegal man charged with the Dublin bed-sit rape of a woman who said she had snorted cocaine earlier has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict.
Mr Justice Barry White discharged the jury after it had been deliberating for a little over five hours at the Central Criminal Court before announcing it was too deadlocked to reach any verdict.
Mr Justice White thanked the five women and seven men of the jury for their work and remanded the accused on continuing bail to a later date for setting of a new trial date. It was day-four of the trial and the jury spent one night in a hotel.
The 35-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to raping the then 24-year-old woman at an address near Dublin city centre on January 30, 2005 and to sexually assaulting her on the same occasion.
The woman said in evidence that she was due to return to work in the United States of America later on January 30, 2005 and was staying overnight with a girlfriend near the city centre.
She said that after going to sleep at about 2.30 am in her girlfriend’s bed following some time socialising in Temple Bar during which she snorted a line of cocaine, she woke to find the accused having sex with her.
