Spare a thought for Shawn Elrick. The Canberra Times reports that even though his trial over grubby teen sex charges (all involved were teenagers) ended in September 2009 Justice Refshauge has waited until yesterday to find him not guilty.
Justice Refshauge said while Mr Elrick appeared to have lied to police after his arrest, the version of events he gave at the trial was corroborated by other witnesses.
But while the judge did not believe the two girls deliberately lied under oath he was concerned with inconsistencies between their accounts and those of other witnesses.
”The inconsistencies in the evidence of the complainants leave me with a reasonable doubt as to whether the allegations have been made out and I must therefore acquit MrElrick,” he wrote in his judgment.