Published Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Belfast man Richard Douglas was found not guilty at Belfast Crown Court. (© UTV)
Richard Douglas, 28 and from Manna Grove in the city, was unanimously found not guilty of two counts of sexual assault by a Belfast Crown Court jury of seven men and five women.
They deliberated for just over an hour on Monday before delivering their verdict.
The jury rejected claims from a 24-year-old woman that Douglas - whom she had met earlier at the Four Winds bar in south Belfast - attacked her in her home, in the early hours of March 22, 2009.
The woman had alleged that she pleaded with Douglas to stop, urging him to "think of your girlfriend, think of your baby".
But Douglas insisted that, while there had been sexual contact between them, the woman had consented.