Jury unable to agree on 18 charges against childcare worker

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was unable to agree on 18 sexual assault charges against an unnamed childcare worker on 24 March 2020, after deliberating for 21 hours and 41 minutes. The proceedings were reported on 24 March 2020.

The man had pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of sexually assaulting four girls at a Leinster crèche on dates between August 2014 and December 2016. The girls were aged between five and eight at the time.

On 23 March 2020, the jury acquitted him of five charges: three relating to the first complainant and both charges relating to the fourth. Judge Elma Sheahan remanded him on continuing bail and adjourned the matter to 16 June 2020.

The prosecution alleged that the assaults took place at various locations in the crèche. Prosecuting counsel Orla Crowe SC said the assaults occurred outside the view of CCTV cameras. Defence counsel Sean Guerin SC said there had been failings in the garda investigation and pointed to inconsistencies in the case.

Mr Guerin pointed out that the second complainant admitted under cross-examination that she might have said things about the man that were untrue. He said the man may have handled the third child clumsily when getting her off his knee, and that she agreed under cross-examination that it was not inappropriate. He also submitted that the children were suggestible and said the fourth child changed her account after speaking to the first child before her garda interview.