A man with a history of sexually assaulting young boys was cleared of the latest charges against him in the Supreme Court, yesterday.

But the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, remained in prison on remand for more outstanding sexual assault charges relating to young boys.

The 27-year-old had charges of attempted sexual assault completely dropped yesterday as the presiding judge ruled that the Crown had not provided enough evidence to support its case.

The man, defended by lawyer Larry Mussenden, instead pleaded guilty to a much lesser charge of trespassing and received a 12-month prison sentence for that offence.

Assistant Justice Charles Etta Simmons subsequently dismissed the ten woman, two man jury on the second day of the trial.

Crown counsel Graveney Bannister said he brough the attempted sexual assault charges because of the man's history and fears that his behaviour might escalate.

"I have a copy of his record, he has one conviction of a similar nature," he said. "He was out of prison for one year and six days when he committed this offence," and he argued that it was the accused's intent to sodomise the 17-year-old victim.

"The man has been convicted for buggery. He may go on to more serious offences."

Mr. Mussenden slammed Mr. Bannister's contention as "the most outrageous comment" he had ever heard from a Crown counsellor

Det. Con. Terry Pringle, the antecedent's officer, told the court that the accused had been released from a four-year prison sentence for buggery in September 1999. He had been convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, having unlawful carnal knowledge and also for unlawfully detaining a minor in January 1997.

The defendant apologised for going into the victim's house and to his family, he said: "I apologise a hundred times."

Mrs. Simmons handed down the maximum sentence of 12 months for trespassing after telling the defendant that he did not respect the privacy for individuals. The defendant had been on remand for over 12 months and time spent in custody will be taken into consideration.

Mr. Mussenden said: "My client and I are glad that this matter is behind him and he is looking forward to getting on with his life."

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