Jury Deadlocks on 52 Counts, Guilty on One

European news, powered by AI. This is Europe News today. I'm Corey with the story.

A 54-year-old man faced trial in Waterford's Central Criminal Court on charges of rape and sexual assault against a child.

After four days of evidence, the jury nailed him on one count of sexual assault from early 2005 at a local address.

With a hit a wall on the other 52 counts, staying deadlocked after more than 10 hours of talks.

The jury, seven men and five women, started deliberating last Friday and kept at it steadily.

Earlier today, one juror wanted to flag an issue from the jury room, but the judge shut that down

quick, stressing the sacred seal of confidentiality. There, no peeking allowed.

Mr. Justice Patrick McGrath praised the jury's huge effort, noting hung juries happen often in heavy

cases like this. That one guilty call came down? 10-2. He thanked them all and excused everyone

from jury duty for five years. Now the remaining charges head back to the director of public

prosecutions for a call on next steps. The case pops up again in Dublin's Central Criminal Court on May 18th.

We'll watch if a retrial drops on those 52 counts, keeping the victim's identity locked tight as always.

Stay tuned for the DPP's move.