Elder is convicted of sex assault

A 72-year-old former church elder from County Down has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a child.

Benjamin Fisher, of Laburnum Way, Comber, faced six counts of indecently assaulting the girl, then aged eight, between 1991 and 1993.

A Downpatrick Crown Court jury convicted him on one charge, but failed to reach a verdict on the others.

On Thursday, the prosecution asked the judge not to proceed with the remaining charges. Fisher was remanded on bail.

The prosecution asked not to proceed with the charges on the grounds the injured party had given evidence on three occasions as two previous trials had been halted for legal reasons.

Judge Kevin Finnegan said Fisher would be sentenced after the summer when probation reports had been prepared.

The former elder with the Assembly of God Church in Dundonald, was found guilty of kissing and touching the girl at his then home in Newtownards.

When the youngster told her mother what happened, the older woman confronted the defendant, who denied abusing the youngster.

He claimed he wrestled with her the way he wrestled with his nephews and grandsons.

The victim is now 21 and cannot be named for legal reasons.