A criminal sexual conduct charge against a 72-year-old Hayward man was withdrawn right before the trial was to start Tuesday.

County Attorney Craig Nelson dismissed the case because the complainant’s condition would not allow her to testify.

The 24-year-old complainant alleged that she was sexually abused by her stepfather between September 2000 and March 2001. She has a mental handicap, and the prosecutor employed a legal provision that specifically punishes sexual contact when a person knew or had a reason to know that the person was mentally impaired, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless.

The jury trial would have begun Tuesday, calling the complainant, investigator and social worker as witnesses.