A man has been cleared of raping a Cork woman he met in a night-club after attending a party function.
A Central Criminal Court jury took over three hours to find the man not guilty by a 10 to two verdict of raping the 49-year-old woman on September 3rd-4th, 1996, as he was giving her a lift home.
The woman claimed he had raped her despite her protestations. The man, in his 30s, said she gave no indication she wanted him to stop. They were almost at her house when she told him she was going to complain to gardai.
The court heard he told gardai the entire Fianna Fail front bench had attended the function and he had spoken to Bertie Ahern. "I have aspirations to be a TD some time. If somebody nominates me in the future, I will run," he said.