A man was yesterday cleared of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old refugee girl after she admitted she had learned off by heart the statement to gardai "like a maths table" and had no memory of the alleged attack.
Judge Frank O'Donnell directed a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to deliver a not-guilty verdict after the girl agreed she had memorised the statement she made when she was six years old.
The 42-year-old accused had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the girl at his home on a date between July 1st and September 30th, 1996. Giving evidence by video-link, the girl broke down as she gave details of the alleged assault.
She later agreed with Mr George Birmingham SC, defending, that she had learned off two written statements she gave to gardai.
Judge O'Donnell said it would be very dangerous to allow the jury to decide the case on the girl's evidence.
He also said it would be unfair to the alleged victim to place her under further cross-examination if there was no prospect of the case going to the jury.
He adjourned a defence application to award costs against the prosecution until December 1st.