The Human Rights Commission has completed an investigation and internal hearing into the case of a Police Sergeant accused of sexual assault.

But officers were last night remaining tight-lipped on the judgement handed down after last Friday's mini-trial in Hamilton.

The Sergeant has already been exonerated by Acting Deputy Commissioner Harold Moniz.

Acting Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay is expected to rubber-stamp the decision and end the Police inquiry.

And the officer has already become an Acting Inspector and is in line for full promotion if he passes an interview with the Public Service Commission.

Canon James Francis, Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, confirmed the HRC investigation had now been finished.

But he added: "We are bound by the Secrecy Act and our judgements are not a matter for public record so I cannot say if the case against the officer was upheld.''.

The internal Police trial finished in October, more than two years after the investigation began.

A 22-year-old probationer had complained she was sexually harassed and assaulted by her supervisor in July 1995.

The accused officer, who is married, was immediately moved onto a different watch and out of his post in uniform.

He faced allegations that he tried to kiss and then rubbed himself against the woman officer in the grounds of a school play area, as she drove him home from a party at around 1.30 a.m.

The initial inquiry, conducted by a Chief Inspector, was told that the pair went to the party as friends after coming off the 4 p.m. to midnight shift.

Mr. Moniz finally delivered his verdict earlier this month, four months after receiving a dossier of the case evidence.

The accused officer is one of 13 Sergeants notified that they passed the preliminary interviews for promotion to Inspector last month.

He could have been fired, fined or reduced in rank if disciplinary chiefs found him guilty of discreditable conduct.

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