Trial opens of man accused of unlawful sex with girl

The trial has opened today at Donegal Circuit Court of a 25-year-old man accused of unlawful sex with a girl when she was 13 years of age.
The offence is alleged to have happened in south Donegal on a date in October, 2003. The man has pleaded not guilty.
The girl is now aged 20.
Judge John O’Hagan told the jury of seven women and five men that the trial is expected to last three days.
Prosecutor Eileen O’Leary, SC, told them that the 13-year-old in October 2003 was behaving badly and was staying out late at night and was drinking and smoking and hanging around with older people,
Ms O’Leary said it was not suggested the defendant coerced the girl into sex.in his car at Rossnowlagh.
The offence was that the girl at the time was too young to be legally capable of consenting to sex.
The trial continues