An Australian court has acquitted a South Sudanese-born man on rape charges.

Majak Daw, a Melbourne footballer, has been found not guilty on three counts of rape over an incident at a Melbourne party in 2007.

Dau was aged 16 and the girl, 15 when the sexual abuse was alleged to have occurred, the Australian media reported.

He had told his trial the sex acts were consensual.

When he gave evidence on Monday, Daw told the jury the teenage girl and others at his school had been interested in him because he was one of only a few Sudanese students at the school.

“I thought [she] was fascinated by my background,” the ABC website quoted him.

“She asked to touch my skin, touch my hair … my teeth.”

The jury, made up of seven women and five men, began deliberations on Wednesday.

“It’s been a tough time, a tough nine days,” he said.

“I just want to thank all my family and friends for being here for me. I’ve been through this. I can get through anything in life.”

Daw was recruited to the North Melbourne Football Club in 2009. He was delisted in October and redrafted on Friday.