A 22-year-old Irishman has been acquitted of a rape charge by a New York court.
Damien McGuinness, who lives in Queens and worked as a barman in Manhattan, was arrested last month along with another Irishman who was quickly released.
The arrest followed an alleged assault on a woman in her Manhattan apartment early Thursday morning, August 11.
In an initial court hearing, McGuinness' public defender, Brad Sage, told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferrara that the other Irishman had testified that the sexual encounter had been consensual.
Prosecutors had asked for $25,000 bail, but the judge ordered McGuinness held on $5,000. Despite the lower sum, McGuinness has been imprisoned in the notorious Tombs facility since that first court appearance.
Charges were dropped after the woman refused to testify in court, the Daily News reported.
The acquitted man's father, also Damien, said his son and the family were delighted and over the moon following the court decision.
"It's brilliant," he told the Echo Monday after flying in from Ireland.
"All charges are dropped and my son's name has been cleared. Damien is delighted. Thank God he's a strong
boy," he said in reference to his son's imprisonment, which lasted in excess of a
month.
Attorney Wyatt gibbons, who took over the case from the public defender, said that his client had never denied having relations with his accuser.
"He said there wasn't any forcible compulsion. They'd literally just met a few hours prior," Gibbons was reported as saying in the Daily
News.
McGuinness, meanwhile, does face deportation to Ireland despite his acquittal because he is undocumented.
