Police Commissioner Gertie Barker has revealed.

She told The Royal Gazette assaults were running at the rate of one a day with serious sex assaults numbering around eight to ten a year.

"That's a lot for this size of an island,'' she said. But she refused to theorise on why they were more violent.

Ms Barker said she believed the rise was due to increased reporting of offences after the Sexual Offences Act got rid of the stigma of the term rape by renaming the offence serious sexual assault. However, no official statistics were available from the Police last night.

Ms Barker was speaking at the official opening of the $80,000 Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) unit at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Experts said they believed the unit might lead to a further rise in reported cases as victims became aware they can be dealt with in privacy.

Women's Resource Centre chairperson Penny Dill said: "I am very pleased we have these facilities for assault victims.

"Before people would come to the Emergency Department and find there wasn't always a doctor to treat them.

Sexual assault unit opens They would be told to go home and not to take a shower and then come back the next day.

"Nobody wants to wait 24 hours and not take a bath in that situation.'' Acting Director of Public Prosecutions William Pearce said he hoped the new unit would help lead to more convictions of sex offenders.

He said many women were put off from attending the emergency room after being raped because they feared other patients would see them with the specialist doctor and people would guess what their problem was.

Mr. Pearce said: "They would be revictimised. But now we have this private support system in place.'' The centre has a state-of-the-art televised microscope which can provide detailed photographic evidence of internal injuries to help strengthen the prosecution's argument.

Health Minister Nelson Bascome said: "They can utilise that to provide more conclusive evidence for the case.'' Seven nurses will be trained to gather medical evidence to support cases. The unit will be led by three doctors with staff able to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day.

Mr. Pearce added that the Department of Public Prosecutions was concentrating on being more supportive to sexual assault victims.

He said: "There's been a lack of communication. Now we will aim to tell people why their case has been adjourned. Sometimes in the past cases have been put together at the last minute.'' The two-room SART unit cost the hospital around $40,000 to build while private donors chipped in a similar amount to equip and run it. Donors included the Bank of Bermuda's Centennial Trust which chipped in more than $25,000 and the Bermuda Junior Service League which chipped in $20,000.

SART programme coordinator Victoria Manning said she hoped more victims would now feel comfortable about coming forward for treatment.

She said: "Sometimes we would hear from the Police that a victim was on their way but they wouldn't show.

"But this is a place where they can be examined in privacy as soon as possible.''