A door-to-door carpet salesman, accused of raping a Kilkenny woman at her home, has been cleared of the charges against him by direction of the judge at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Lavan directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty after accepting the defence submission that a properly directed jury could not find him guilty on the evidence heard.
The 26-year-old Limerick man denied two counts of raping the woman at her home in Kilkenny on April 21st, 1998, after gaining entrance into her house to sell carpets.
Mr John Peart SC, defending, submitted that the complainant's evidence was contradictory. Mr Justice Lavan said it was with sympathy to the complainant that he was making the direction, but he had many concerns with her evidence.