A Dublin man was cleared in the Central Criminal Court last night of raping a young woman as she slept but he was convicted of sexually assaulting her.
Mr Justice Declan Budd allowed the 20-year-old man to stand out on bail until the sentence hearing on October 6th, when he was told a probation report could not be prepared before then because of the pressure of work on the Probation and Welfare Service.
A jury of six men and six women took just over 3 1/2 hours to find the defendant not guilty of rape but guilty of sexually assaulting the then 17-year-old victim on May 25th, 1996. She had been sleeping in a bed with a female friend after a drinks session in another man's house.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, undertook not to contact her while he was on bail. He had denied the rape charge during a four-day trial.