A 39-year-old businessman was yesterday acquitted of several charges of carnal abuse when his 15-year-old stepdaughter informed the court that she had lied about the repeated sexual assault to “get rid of him”.

The girl, who was just 13 years old in 2006 when she told the dreaded lie on her stepfather, earned the ire of Justice Christine McDonald in the Home Circuit Court after recanting her assault story from the witness box.

In scolding the teen, McDonald recommended that she receives professional counselling and told her that she only missed being arrested and charged with creating public mischief because she was still in school.

The teen had originally told the police that in 2006 her stepfather had sexually assaulted her on several occasions that year and that at times she woke up to find him having sex with her.

On the word of the girl, the accused was arrested and charged with five counts of carnal abuse and two counts of indecent assault.

The teen explained yesterday that she lied on her stepfather because she did not like how he treated her mother and that she wanted to “get rid of him” after he discovered that she was sleeping with one of his male employees.

After the teen came clean, McDonald ordered the seven-member juror panel to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

The framed stepdad was represented by attorneys K Churchill Neita and

Vincent Wellesley.