Abuser whose rape conviction was overturned will not face third retrial

A 73-year-old man from County Mayo will not face a third retrial following a Court of Appeal ruling. His rape conviction, overturned in February 2018, will not be prosecuted again after the Director of Public Prosecutions' application for a retrial was refused. The man had been found guilty at the Central Criminal Court in 2015 of indecent assault and multiple counts of sexual assault and rape of a child between 1990 and 1994, receiving a 13-year sentence with the final five years suspended. The Court of Appeal had set aside the conviction, finding that evidence of the man's previous convictions for abusing the complainant's sisters should not have been presented to the jury due to their prejudicial effect. In refusing the retrial application, Mr Justice Alan Mahon cited the appellant's age and health, the age of the allegations, and the fact this would constitute a third trial on the matter.