A 69-year-old Waterford man has been found guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl who gave birth some nine months after the incident.
The Central Criminal Court jury took three hours to convict him of raping his neighbour, now 16, on a date in or about July 1997. The jury was told by a forensic scientist, Mr Michael Burrington, that DNA samples showed a 350:1 probability that the man was the baby's father.
The man told the jury he was sterile as a result of contracting mumps in the 1950s.
Mr Justice Smyth remanded him on continuing bail for sentence on May 18th and ordered a victim impact report.
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The girl said she discovered she was pregnant in September 1997 and initially alleged she had been raped by a boy while on holiday in London.