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The jury of six men and six women had spent just under three hours deliberating on the matter at the Central Criminal Court in Tralee before bringing in unanimous verdicts after the five day trial.

(There were originally 11 counts but one count of sexual assault was withdrawn from the jury). The court heard upsetting evidence from the two young women how their mother was “always drinking”.

he would go out with her then live in boyfriend and the man would babysit the two girls and a number of younger siblings. When the older girl revealed to neighbours her allegations he was asked to leave the house.

The younger girl told the jury she remembered on one occasion being carried from her bed to a back bedroom when her mother was out drinking. He was drunk and staggering, she had been wearing a pink nightdress with a monkey on it.

The man had raped her in the back bedroom and he had also orally raped her. He had stopped when she screamed when he attempted to rape her anally, she told the jury.

During the attack “he said the same thing as always . . . good girl”, she told the jury.

On another occasion she vomited after oral rape in the sitting room of the house and he told her to fetch a towel to clean it up, she said.

School records of the older girl showed high levels of absenteeism, the jury heard.

The man, who is from a large family from outside Kerry had denied all counts. He had told gardaí who had travelled to London in 2009 to interview him that it was “two sisters making up stories” and that he would never touch a child.
(Source: Irish Times)

Kildare

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show a total of 18,084 people signing on in the county, a drop of 1,280 on the August figure.



The Kildare total mirrors the pattern elsewhere in the country, with unemployment falling nationally although a staggering 442,200 people are still jobless. In addition to the monthly decline, the national figures are also showing a decrease of 4,976 on September of last year, amounting to 1.1%, and this has been heralded as the first actual annual decrease in unemployment since April 2007.



The figures remain very high, however, with an unemployment rate of 14.3%, and the CSO points out in its latest statement that in the past 12 months, the figures have generally stayed “within a narrow range between 441,600 and 447,900.

At Kildare's three social welfare centres, the slight decline is evident in all cases.

In Newbridge, the total number of people signing on in September amounted to 9,396, as opposed to 9,892 in August. In Athy, 2,740 people were registered in September, down on the previous month's total of 2,903, while in Maynooth, the September total was 5,948, also down from 6,569 in August.

The improved figures give some cause for hope, given that a few months back, Kildare was on the cusp of breaking the 20,000 barrier for the first time ever, in terms of the number of jobless people in the county.

(Source: The Kildare Nationalist)

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Nster.com