A TEENAGER was cleared yesterday of raping a girl when he was 14 and she was nine.
The jury at Teesside Crown Court took less than half an hour to find the Stockton youngster not guilty of rape and indecent assault between November 1998 and November 1999 while babysitting at a house on the town's Hardwick estate.
The girl, who gave evidence via a video link, claimed that he attacked her as she was in bed with a younger girl.
The boy, who is now 17 and cannot be named for legal reasons, fell into the arms of his weeping mother after the verdict.
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