Jury fail to reach verdict in trial of Donegal pensioner charged with sexually assaulting  five-year-old girl

A jury in the trial of Donegal man in his 70s accused of sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl has failed to reach a verdict.

The jury of seven men and five women failed to reach a verdict after two and a half hours of deliberation at Letterkenny Circuit Criminal Court.

 The married man, who is not related to the alleged victim, had denied the offence which is alleged to have taken place in 2013 at his home.

The three-day trial heard claims that the man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the alleged victim, drew pictures of genitalia in the girl's scrapbook.

He is then alleged to have put her hand on his genitals outside his trousers and put his hand in her underwear and kissed her on the lips.

The court heard that the girl told her mother and she then made an allegation to gardaí.

The child was interviewed and taken to the sexual assault treatment unit in Galway and the accused was arrested three days after the alleged incident

A video recording of a Garda interview with the alleged victim, who is now aged eight-years-old, was shown to the jury.

Judge Martin Nolan adjourned the case until the next sitting of Letterkenny Circuit Criminal Court in April.

For full coverage see Thursday’s edition of The Donegal Democrat.