Copenhagen: A Danish man, who was accused of raping his 14-year-old daughter, has been acquitted by the court in a retrial, after one of the judges was allegedly found sleeping during the original proceedings.
According to a report in the Independent, the man was sentenced to a five year prison term by the Eastern High Court in Copenhagen last November.
The Supreme Court ordered a retrial into the case after two prison guards observed that one of the three jury members was asleep during a key witness testimony during the initial trial.
"The day when the most important witness was examined, he was sleeping,” said the man’s lawyer Henrik Stagetorn.
The incident took place when the courtroom lights were switched off for viewing the interrogation video of the man's three children.
The father, who was not named for legal reasons, was convicted by four out of six votes on the first trial. During the retrial, he was acquitted by five out of six votes. In Danish law, cases that can earn a prison term are usually deliberated by six judges, three lay judges and three judges with legal background.
Stragetorn also added that the retrial also saw some additional information. “Something had happened to the main witness that could weaken her credibility,” he said, pointing out that the case was held behind closed doors, meaning that not all information was revealed to the public.
