A 29-year-old taxi driver from Hampton Court in St Thomas, was found not guilty of rape following three days of trial in the St Thomas Circuit Court on Wednesday.

The accused, Ferron Lewis, walked free from the dock following a retrial in which the jury returned a unanimous not guilty verdict.

Lewis was on trial after the rape charge was laid against him in 2007, following the alleged assault of a teenage girl in his taxi.

An earlier trial in 2009 ended in a hung verdict which resulted in the retrial. The Star understands that during the closed-door hearings it was revealed that at the time of the alleged crime, Lewis was 22 years old and the girl, who was 17, was his girlfriend.

Allegations are that Lewis took the teenage girl in his car and raped her. The matter was reported to the police and he was arrested and charged. However, it was later borne out during the trial that they both had consensual sex in the vehicle.

The mother, it was heard, found out about the sexual contact and reported the matter to the police who initially charged Lewis with carnal abuse. Attorney-at-law Ronald Koates represented Lewis.