Daw not guilty of raping girl, 15 Australian football Adam Cooper Majak Daw after the verdict.
North Melbourne footballer Majak Daw says he can "get through anything in life" after being acquitted of three rape charges by a County Court jury. 
The relief among Daw's supporters was plain to see when the jury found him not guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2007, when he was 16, as family members and friends cried. Outside court Daw's father, William, crossed himself and cried "Hallelujah".
The footballer was more restrained, but put a hand to his eyes when the jury of seven women and five men delivered the last of the three verdicts, a day after deliberations began.
Soon after, Daw smiled as he fronted a large media pack to describe the trial as a "tough time, a tough nine days".
"I just want to thank all my family and friends for being here for me," he said.
"I've been through this, I can get through anything in life."
As a refugee from war-torn Sudan and a footballer recruited as a teenager and appointed by the AFL as a multicultural ambassador well before the first of his 16 league games, Daw, now 24, has had his share of public attention.
That interest never abated during his trial, even though judge Mark Dean stressed to the jurors the case had nothing to do with Daw's background or current employment.
As defence counsel David Sexton said, this was "a trial about children".
Daw was accused of raping the girl - who he went to school with - orally, digitally and vaginally in a reserve behind a house party in Altona Meadows in   March 2007, after they left the party together.
The complainant last week alleged Daw restrained her, put a hand over her mouth and stroked her face and said: "It's going to be OK."
Daw on Monday told the jury some sexual activity took place, but that what occurred was consensual.
He denied vaginal intercourse occurred. In pleading not guilty to the charges, Daw maintained the complainant did not cry or scream and was "in control" when she initiated the activity.
"She initiated it. I was happy enough to be engaging. We were both kissing ... she was very happy to be doing this."
Prosecutor Andrew McKenry urged the jury to put aside the footballer's evidence because it appeared scripted, too rehearsed and implausible.
In response, Sexton said his client's evidence was straightforward and unvarnished, that Daw had told the truth.
Sexton said there were "too many unanswered questions" over the complainant's evidence, as she had "chopped and changed" her account to three police officers in 2007 and a fourth investigator last year.