Terrence Vancouver Caines, 43, was sentenced to five years behind bars after sexually exploiting a nine-year-old girl.

Caines, represented by lawyer Elizabeth Christopher, was convicted by a Supreme Court jury on April 22.

The jury found him guilty of four counts of sexual exploitation of a young person while being in a position of trust.

They heard evidence that he invited the child to touch his privates and allowed her to rub herself against him on four occasions between April 12 and July 30 2007.

One occasion happened at Long Bay Beach in Sandys, the other three at a house. The maximum penalty for the offence is 25 years in prison.

Caines' was sentenced yesterday by Justice Charlesetta Simmons in Supreme Court who ordered him to complete life skills programmes and sexual offenders treatment, in addition to the jail term. She asked him if he had anything to say before sentencing, but Caines replied: "No I don't".

Crown counsel Nicole Smith told the court on Friday that Caines "acted under the guise of teaching (the girl) how to become a beautiful woman". She said there was a need to protect the community from him, seeing he showed no remorse and denies the offences ever occurred.

Ms Smith referred to the victim's impact statement, which described the offence as a "betrayal" and "loss of innocence".

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had to attend counselling to recover from emotional wounds.

Caines has maintained a not guilty plea throughout the case and says the incident didn't happen, explained Ms Christopher.

She said her client suffers from psychological problems and asked the judge to take that into account when sentencing.

However Justice Simmons believed there were no mitigating factors, meaning no circumstances that should result in a reduced charge.