Jury ‘only has the word’ of complainant in defilement case, judge says as deliberations begin

The jury in the trial of an Irish broadcast accused of the defilement of a 16-year-old girl a decade ago has continued their deliberations.

The man (40) has pleaded not guilty to three counts of engaging in sexual acts with a child under the age of 17 at locations in Dublin on dates between August and December 2010. The complainant was 16 at the time, while the man was 27.

It is the State’s case that the man put his penis in the complainant’s mouth on three occasions, once in his workplace and twice in his home. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The jury had been deliberating for just over three hours on day eight of the trial when Judge Pauline Codd advised them to cease their deliberations for the evening. The jurors will return on Friday to continue consideration of the verdicts.

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The jury asked for clarification of a section of the woman’s cross-examination and evidence from the complainant and her friend about the Deadmaus concert. Judge Codd read her summary of the evidence to the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Finishing her charge before the jury started their deliberations earlier on Thursday, Judge Codd noted they “only have the word” of the complainant that the alleged sexual acts took place because there is no corroborating evidence. She told the jury they would have to assess the “truth and reliability” of the complainant’s evidence.

She said one of the effects of the passage of time is that these types of cases can come down to “one person’s word against another” as potential evidence which could assist either the prosecution or defence is not available.