A woman sexually assaulted by her husband yesterday begged a court to free him.

The shock move came at an appeal against the first sentence of its kind in Bermuda at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

Counsel for the appellant lodged an affidavit from the man's wife saying she had forgiven him.

The 52-year-old man -- who cannot be named for legal reasons -- was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail in July for a serious sexual assault and a physical assault on his wife. Counsel for the appellant Miss Elizabeth Christopher lodged an appeal against conviction and sentence.

But yesterday after an all-day hearing she asked the three-man Court of Appeal to reduce the sentence to two years and suspend it to allow the appellant to return to his wife.

Miss Christopher told the court: "The sentence was harsh and excessive and should probably have been two years.

"I think the court has to bear in mind that the parties were married and lived together.

"Given the wife's forgiveness, I would ask the court to suspend a two-year sentence in its entirety.'' The court heard that a suspended sentence can only be imposed on sentences totalling two years or under.

President of the Court of Appeal the Hon. Sir James Astwood deferred judgement in the case until Thursday.

He said: "It's a very unusual case -- a case of this nature and the wife says she forgives him and wants him home.'' The appellant was found guilty by a majority verdict after the original trial. A Supreme Court jury found that on August 18 last year the man pulled his wife to the bathroom floor, sexually assaulted her and tried to choke her.

The woman claimed she had not consented to sex and that she asked her husband to stop and tried to push him off her.

The victim's nephew told the Supreme Court he kicked down the bathroom door when he heard her gasping for air.

He added he saw the man lying naked on the woman with his hands around her neck.

Earlier in the appeal hearing, Miss Christopher told the court that the original trial judge had erred by not discharging the jury after they heard an "emotional outburst'' from the victim as she gave evidence. The victim said: "He was doing it before and I didn't know what to do.'' But Crown Counsel Khamisi Tokunbo said that the outburst came at the start of the trial, which lasted nearly three weeks, and the jury would be unlikely to attach much significance to the outburst by the end of the evidence.

Mr. Tokunbo added: "There was no substantial miscarriage of justice -- the jury would have come to the same result in any case.'' Mr. Tokunbo told the court that the appellant "came and went'' from the marital home and it was not unusual for him to be there on occasion. But he added: "A woman does not have to have any physical relations or intercourse if she chooses.''