A nearly four-year-old case came to a close Monday when a High Court jury unanimously acquitted defendant John Bally of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13.

 

Mr. Bally was accused in 2010 of touching a young girl’s genitalia and raping her sometime between 2005 and 2007.

He was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

But defence attorney Patrick Thompson appealed his case, and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in January after finding that the judge improperly questioned the defendant during the trial.

The case was then remitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether Mr. Bally would be retried.

After the DPP failed to retry the defendant in the February Assizes, he was released on a writ of habeas corpus.

His retrial finally started on May 26 and lasted a week before the not-guilty verdict was returned.

The trial was held in camera, being closed to the public and media, because it involved alleged sex crimes against a minor.