Man not guilty of sexual activity with 13-year-old (From Your Local Guardian)

Epsom man not guilty of sexual activity with 13-year-old

12:49pm Monday 6th February 2012 in Epsom By Lauren May

A man accused of inciting a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity has been cleared of all charges following a trial at Guildford Crown Court.

Manuel Joao Alves Bicho, 46, from Parkhurst, Epsom, appeared at Guildford Crown Court last week accused of sexually touching the girl on three occasions between September and November 2010.

Mr Bicho maintained his innocence throughout, denying any abuse.

George Zachary, defending suggested that the girl's moderate learning difficulties might explain why she had not told the truth when making the allegations against Mr Bicho.

Summing up for the jury he said: “We are dealing with someone who has got a delayed development so that she in certain respects is eight or nine years old. When did you learn that lying was wrong? Was it about seven years old? Perhaps her developmental problem is the reason why she is saying a story which isn’t true. We don’t know.”

The jury took six hours to return a verdict of not guilty on two of the charges, retiring for a further eight hours to deliberate on the final charge on Friday, January 3, before deciding Mr Bicho was not guilty of that either.