A judge has found a Ballarat foster carer not guilty on all charges of sexually penetrating a child in his care under the age of 12.
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The trial began at the County Court in Ballarat on Wednesday last week.
Defence counsel submitted to the court on Tuesday morning there was no prosecution case.
Judge Anne Hassan declared the accused be found not guilty on all charges, bringing an end to the trial.
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The Courier had chosen not to name the accused to protect the identity of the complainant.
He was contesting six charges of alleged abuse of a child in out-of-home-care at his unit.
The child and the man had lived together for 25 months when the child was aged between seven and nine.
Crown prosecutor Russ Hammill said the carer of the child's siblings had noticed an 'inappropriately' close relationship between the child and the man and noticed the child had sexualised behaviours.
She followed mandatory reporting processes and it was investigated by police.
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