Woman acquitted of abusing younger cousin when both were children

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

A Dublin woman has been acquitted at the Central Criminal Court of sexually abusing her younger cousin when both were children. The accused was aged between 12 and 14 at the time of the alleged offences; her cousin was aged between 10 and 11.

She had pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault and one count of section 4 rape. The allegations concerned incidents at Dublin addresses between July 2017 and July 2019.

On 11 April 2025, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on all 12 counts after more than nine hours of deliberation. The proceedings were reported on 11 April 2025. Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo told the woman she was free to go.

The complainant alleged that the abuse occurred during sleepovers and was preceded by pornography shown by her cousin. The accused denied the allegations and said the girls had not slept over at each other’s homes. She also said she did not own a tablet during the relevant period; her mother gave the same evidence.

The complainant and her parents testified that the sleepovers occurred. The girls’ aunt said they had slept over together once at her home, but confirmed the accused’s evidence that the aunt stayed in the bedroom until they were asleep because of a lighting problem.