A school football coach was found guilty of having sexual relations with a teenage girl nearly 15 years ago.

The 61-year-old Dublin man had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 30 charges of sexual assault, four counts of harassment, one count of rape and one count of anal rape brought against him between September 2007 and February 2010.

The complainant in the case was between the ages of 15 and 18 at the time of the alleged crime, while the male defendant was between the ages of 45 and 47.

Today (Tuesday, July 22) the jury in the case returned a unanimous guilty verdict on four counts of libel, which took place between August 2008 and January 2009, when the complainant was 16 years old.

The jury found the man not guilty of rape and anal rape. He had been found not guilty of 30 counts of sexual assault, as instructed by the judge. The jury had deliberated for about five hours before reaching their verdict.

Judge Eileen Creedon thanked the jurors for their time and attention to the case and excused them from jury service for the next five years.

On November 4, the court ruled that the man be re-arrested to serve his sentence.

In her opening statement to the jury last week, prosecutor Fiona Murphy SC said the accused man worked as a football coach at the girl’s school and was the girl’s team coach. She said the man took the girl’s phone number to contact her about sporting matters but over time the messages became “more personal”.

The state’s case was that the coach “became very much a part of her life” and began to pick her up and take her out at night, which progressed to sexual activity. The jury was told that the issue of consent did not arise in relation to the defilement charges because it was an offence to have sexual intercourse with a person under 17.

The jury was also told that the complainant would say the man raped her twice.

The complainant said in her direct statement that the man was on a football team that he coached and asked for a phone number to keep in touch with the team. The woman said she volunteered her number and that at first, all of his messages were about football.

However, she said the man started calling her and they chatted regularly about their lives. The complainant said the man started bringing her and some of her teammates home after practice. She said she was always the last person to be dropped off at home.

She described how she started driving with him in the winter of 2007/2008 when she was in fourth grade. She stated that he once told her that her face was handsome and she later said that she was proud and that she had feelings for him.

She said the phone calls became increasingly sexual and he asked her questions about her body.

She said she didn’t like the language he used, describing some of it as “a bit disturbing”. She said she went for a drive with him during which the sexual conversation continued. “Sometimes I felt excited because I liked him, but sometimes I felt nervous, and sometimes it was overwhelming,” she said.

She said one time, the man pulled into an alley and they kissed for the first time.

The complainant said they began to have sexual contact after this. The man started talking about wanting to have sex with her and she agreed in June 2008. The complainant told the court that they first had sex in the back seat of his car.

The complainant said she was horrified and asked him to stop. She said they had sex in the car twice more at the same location. She also said they had sex in her car in an industrial area.

She alleged that they started going to a rented house for sex in October 2009, where he raped her on one occasion. She also claimed that he anally raped her on another occasion.

In cross-examination, John Fitzgerald SC, defending, said his client denied ever taking her on outings or engaging in any sexual conversation when she was 16. The complainant said that statement was “not true”.

Mr Fitzgerald also said his client had said he had an affair that began in late 2010 and lasted six months. This he denied. The complainant’s partner gave evidence that she had told him about the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her sports coach in 2012.

The man was questioned by police three times, during which he denied having any sexual intercourse with the complainant before she turned 18.

During the interview, the man said he began a six-month sexual relationship with the girl when she was 18 and in college. He said the relationship fizzled out and they stayed in touch until 2019.

In her closing statement, Ms Murphy told jurors that to convict him of contempt they “needed to be certain that the complainant was under 17 and that the defendant knew she was under 17”.

He stated that the defendant was the complainant’s football coach and was aware of his age.

“I submit that you have clear and convincing evidence, supported by other evidence,” Ms Murphy said.

He told the jury: “There is a significant corroboration of what the complainant alleges.”

Fitzgerald argued in his closing argument that there were “reasons why you might doubt the evidence.”

Fitzgerald told the jury: “If someone had raped you vaginally and anally, why would you put up with elevators for eight years?”

“Why are you going to breakfast with him and your sister?” and “Why are you getting in the car with him?” she said.

He told the jury, “They must give the defendant the benefit of the doubt and acquit him.”