A WEST Dublin man who told gardaí he had snorted so much cocaine "I could barely fit it up my nose anymore" has been cleared of attempted rape and aggravated sexual assault of a drunken teenage girl.
Mr Justice Paul Carney directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on the attempted rape charge following an application by defence counsel,
Luán Ó Braonáin SC (with Anne-Marie Lawlor) and the jury acquitted the accused of the second charge, following almost three hours of deliberation.
The 24-year-old accused originally pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the charges of attempted rape and aggravated sexual assault of the then 18-year-old girl on October 26th, 2007.
Mr Justice Carney discharged the accused and thanked the jury of seven women and five men for its care and attention to the case. It was day four of the hearing.
The complainant admitted she was very drunk and couldn't remember large parts of the night she alleged the accused attacked her. She told prosecuting counsel Deirdre Murphy SC (with Kerida Naidoo) she had been drinking in a pub since 2pm and she met the accused for the first time when he arrived with her brother later that day. They bought two crates of beer and continued drinking in her brother's house.
She told Ms Murphy she drank eight pints of lager, "a couple of shots" and up to five cans of beer but denied a defence suggestion that she knew cocaine had been taken in the house. She "vaguely remembers" being put to bed by her girlfriend before she woke to find the accused lying on top of her on the floor with his arm over her neck so she couldn't breathe or call out. He leaned back trying to undo her trousers, which gave her the opportunity to cry out for help.
Her brother said in evidence he and the accused were taking cocaine but that no one else was. He went up to the bedroom when he heard a bang and saw the accused sitting on his sister, but that he then got up and ran past him out of the house.
Garda Emer le Mon said the accused came to the Garda station voluntarily and made a statement saying he could remember little about the incident. He claimed he and the girl agreed to go to bed together but that he couldn't remember what happened next.