A teacher was jailed for a year yesterday for sexually exploiting a child under the age of 16.

Marvin Pitcher, of St. David's, was convicted of two counts of sexual exploitation while in a position of trust.

The victim in the case cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Defence attorney Mark Pettingill told Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo his 35-year-old client was a man of good character who had made a mistake.

"He is not a person who stalks young people," he said. "There is no evidence for a propensity towards these sort of offences. It's not a case where the situation was forced.

"Society is not going to gain anything from the imprisoning of this man, except for some sort of warning that most people are not going to get."

Appearing with both his pastor and his fiancée, Pitcher asked the court for leniency, saying: "I am at the mercy of Your Honour and this court."

Mr. Tokunbo agreed that it did not appear that Pitcher had a propensity towards this type of crime, but said an immediate custodial sentence was still expected.

"I don't think you are the type of person to commit again, and I do not feel you are a risk to society, but these kinds of offences are grave offences, and young people have to be protected," he said.

"You may not be the type of person who does these things, but in this case I found that you slipped and you did. I have to send a message to people who would do such things."

Mr. Tokunbo sentenced Pitcher to 12 months' imprisonment on both counts with the time to be served concurrently.