The Attorney General is to appeal a judge's ruling that saw a man accused of having sex with his 13-year-old niece walk free.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Elliott Mottley said he considered the judgment -- which terminated the case before a single defence witness was called -- was wrong and his department would be filing an appeal against it.

"As regards the actual ruling by the Judge, I will not make any comment, except to say that I consider it was erroneous in law,'' he said.

Two weeks ago Puisne Judge Norma Wade Miller ruled the prosecutor's failure to have the girl's mother state her child's date of birth from the witness box was "fatal'' to the case.

She ruled it was not enough that the girl stated her own date of birth, and her birth certificate backed that up.

Women and children's advocacy groups were outraged after the judge directed the jury to find the man not guilty on all charges because of the legal blunder.

The 35-year-old had faced one charge of having unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14 and three counts of sexual exploitation of a young person between August, 1995 and January, 1996.

His niece said from the witness box that her uncle claimed he was only 16 before kissing and fondling her, and later having sex more times than she could recall.

Mrs. Justice Wade Miller made the controversial ruling despite admitting that "considerable evidence'' weighed against the man -- who cannot be named for legal reasons.

"You are quite a lucky young man. Certainly in my opinion there was considerable evidence weighing against you. Watch your step,'' she said. In his statement Mr. Mottley also criticised Sheelagh Cooper, the spokeswoman for the Coalition for the Protection of Children, who said after the decision that the schoolgirl and her mother were both "distraught''.

She said the blame for the legal error lay not with the judge but with the Attorney General's office for allowing a prosecutor not familiar with the legal requirements of the case to act as Crown Counsel.

Mr. Mottley said he rejected Mrs. Cooper's opinion as being "completely unfounded and unjustified''.

"Indeed, I should imagine that Mrs. Cooper does not know anything about that Crown Counsel's career.

"It is rather unfortunate that she should have attempted to assign blame to the Attorney General's Chambers for putting an `unseasoned, ill-equipped prosecutor' into the Supreme Court to conduct the prosecution.'' He said since prosecutor Sandra Bacchus arrived in Bermuda she had successfully conducted the prosecution in a number of trials, including sexual exploitation and importation of drugs cases.

COURT OF APPEAL COA ATTORNEY GENERAL AG