A court has upheld the conviction of a man for two counts of sexually touching a girl, but overturned a third count over questions of the complainant’s age.

Andrew Rewan, 44, was found guilty last year of three counts of touching a girl, directly or indirectly, for a sexual purpose while in a position of trust.

He subsequently launched an appeal against his conviction, citing the use of a procedure to shift the case between magistrates.

At a hearing yesterday, Puisne Judge Alan Richards dismissed the argument and upheld Rewan’s conviction for two of the three offences.

The judge quashed Rewan’s conviction for the third count on the basis that it was not clear that the magistrate who delivered the verdict found that the offence occurred before the victim’s sixteenth birthday.

Mr Justice Richards said: “The respondent points to evidence that the complainant gave that could have led the magistrate to conclude that she was under 16 at the relevant time, but the magistrate’s factual findings do not indicate that she did so find.”

He said that that specific offence could only be charged, as a matter of law, in cases where the complainant was under the age of 16 when the event occurred.

Mr Justice Richards added: “There are other offences that could have been charged instead, but none that the magistrate could have convicted on the information before her, so none that I can substitute a conviction for.”

The judge ordered the matter be sent back to the Magistrates’ Court on January 6 for Rewan to be sentenced on the two remaining charges.

Rewan was originally charged with five offences including four counts of touching a girl for a sexual purpose while in a position of trust and one count of intruding on the girl’s privacy.

All five offences were said to have taken place between early 2013 and late 2017.

During a 2023 trial, the victim told the court that Rewan had touched her breasts at his home in Sandys, where she often spent time with her friend, and on the Railway Trail.

She said that she did not tell anyone about the man’s alleged actions until she completed sexual abuse awareness training in 2019.

The friend, who also testified during the trial, recalled that the girl was sometimes “called away” by Rewan at the residence.

Rewan did not take the stand in the case.

While the trial was initially overseen by magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo, it was transferred to magistrate Maria Sofianos after Mr Tokunbo’s retirement.

Ms Sofianos found Rewan guilty of three counts of sexual touching in October 2024.

Rewan launched an appeal against his conviction in the Supreme Court.

Vaughn Caines, counsel for Rewan, argued that the change of magistrates meant that Ms Sofianos was not in the best position to determine the honesty of the witnesses in the case.

Delivering his decision, Mr Justice Richards told the court that he would have ordered the evidence be heard again if he had been the magistrate in the case — particularly given the importance of witness credibility in the case.

He said: “I would not be prepared to proceed as she did. She was under no obligation to do so. She could have directed that the trial was started fresh before her.”

However, the judge said he did not think Ms Sofianos had acted unreasonably, and noted that Rewan and his counsel had not raised any objections to the procedure at the time.

Mr Justice Richards said: “It seems to me that the appellant cannot now attack his convictions on the basis of an objection to a procedure that could easily have been challenged in the court below.”

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