KEY POINTS:
A not guilty verdict has ended a harrowing year for former Dargaville teacher Richard Calder.
A jury has acquitted the 38-year-old of multiple counts of sexual connection relating to a 14-year-old girl.
She claimed the incidents happened at his Baylys Beach home in January last year.
Mr Calder's lawyer Arthur Fairlie says the verdict is an end to a horror year for his client, made all the more difficult because Dargaville is such a small town.
- NEWSTALK ZB