A 15-year-old boy has been found guilty of the rape and sexual assault of a then 16-year-old girl at a race meeting in Limerick on St Stephen's Day over two years ago.
The verdicts, by a jury of nine women and two men, follow a trial which has been ongoing for the past four weeks.
The jury has retired for the day and will continue their deliberations on charges against two other teenagers tomorrow.
Two of the teens, who were 13 and 15 at the time, had pleaded not guilty to raping and sexually assaulting the girl, while a third teenager, who was 15 at the time, had pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting the other two boys and falsely imprisoning the girl.
The trial at the Central Criminal Court in Cork was told that the 16-year-old girl met the three boys for the first time when she went to Limerick Racecourse with friends on St Stephen's Day in 2022.
The young woman, who is now 18, accepted during the trial that she had agreed to go somewhere private to "get with" one of the boys, but she said she did not consent to intercourse, and was allegedly raped, first by the then 13-year-old and then by one of the 15-year-olds in the back of a car.
Prosecution Senior Counsel Dean Kelly said the three co-accused wanted the jury to believe that the complainant was "a nasty, evil, mendacious liar".
He said the account of the boys was that within moments of entering the car, the girl was "in total control of an orgy", but the reality, he said, is that the boys took "what they wanted from her physically, and sexually, whether she wanted to or not".
Defence Senior Counsels for the three defendants said the prosecution had not reached the point of proving any of the counts beyond reasonable doubt.
The defence also said that by the complainant's own account she did consent to some interaction that afternoon.
They argued that while the prosecution said it was consent up to a point, it was not clear where that point was.
The jury returned their majority verdict just before 5pm this afternoon.
The then 13-year-old, who is now 15 years of age, was remanded in custody by Mr Justice Paul McDermott to appear in court on 28 April next when he will be sentenced.
They will resume their deliberations in the case of the two other teenagers in the morning.
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