December 2012 Treboeth pensioner David Dowling cleared of sex assault on seven-year-old girl – But admits having indecent images of children A PENSIONER has been found not guilty of indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl. David Dowling, 68, was cleared by a jury at Swansea Crown court of one charge of indecently assaulting the girl when she was seven. His alleged victim, now aged 21, had told the jury Dowling, a father of three, had assaulted her between 1997 and 2000. Dowling will be sentenced at a later date after admitting possessing indecent images of children. The jury were told that images were all of young girls aged between four and ten years old. They were all found on his computer by police after his arrest in October 2011 for this alleged offence. Dowling, 68, said he had come across the images accidentally and clicked on them while surfing the internet because he was “inquisitive”. He said he was “shocked” when he was told they had been found on his computer. Dowling, of Waun Gron Road, Treboeth, was cleared in under an hour. He had denied the assault had ever taken place and that he had bribed his alleged victim after the attack so she would not tell anyone. She alleged Dowling had put his hands inside her trousers and assaulted her. In a tearful account, she told the jury there was pornography on a television during the assault and he begun “feeling around” inside her trousers. She said he had also touched her while she danced and at one point had lain on top of her and she had told him “no”. “I remember I was dancing and he said, ‘Keep dancing’, and he started touching my body. The song was ‘Ooh Ah…just a little bit. I remember that,” she had told the jury. She said she had not reported the incident at the time because she was “too young” and had then tried to “block it out”. Dowling had also denied suggestions from prosecution barrister Stephen Rees that he had “fantasised” about acting out scenes he had seen in the indecent images he possessed and denied he had “overstepped the mark” when he assaulted the girl. When he was asked if he had an “unhealthy” interest in young girls, Dowling replied: “No, I disagree totally with that.” Dowling told defence barrister Huw Rees he was “shocked” the accusation of sexual assault had been made against him.