A senior citizen was discharged and acquitted by the Magistrate's Court here Friday of four charges of outraging the modesty of his 11-year-old grandaughter.

Magistrate Zulkpli Abdullah ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt its charges against the 76-year-old man, at the end of the defence case.

"Having perused all the evidences adduced in this case, the court is of the view that, on balance of probability, there is a reasonable doubt that the charges against the accused are a result of a conspiracy against him due to an ongoing legal battle over the custody of the victim who is the accused's grandaughter and at the material time under a shared custody of the father and the mother," he said.

The grandfather represented by counsel Noor Azah Azizan was ordered to enter his defence on Jun 14 last year.

He was charged with committing the offences at four different locations including two hotels and in a car, here, from the hours of 1pm to 6pm between April 2010 and October 2011.

Deputy public prosecutor Nur Hafizah Rajuni said the prosecution would appeal against the decision.