The High Court has refused to stop a trial from going ahead of a man accused of sexually assaulting his 9-year-old neighbour in 1976.

Lawyers for the man aged in his 50s argued the prosecution would be unfair because of the delay in bringing charges against him.

It is alleged that as a 16-year-old the man sexually assaulted his 9-year-old neighbour in front of his own sister after he met the girls coming home from swimming in a lake in the west of Ireland.

The court heard 15 years later in March 2001 the alleged victim decided she was going to stab him and drunkenly broke into his house next door with a knife.

She went upstairs to his bedroom and prodded him a number of times before the mother of the accused found her crying and was told that her son had done something to the girl when she was younger.

In 2009 the woman lodged a formal complaint with Gardaí.

Today his lawyers tried to stop his trial from going ahead on grounds that he would be prejudiced by the delay and because his mother – a witness – is now dead.

The court has refused finding no real risk of an unfair trial.