A man has denied in Magistrates' Court that he sexually assaulted and touched a ten-year-old girl for sexual purposes two years ago.

The 34-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to the two charges, which were said to have occurred between May 1 and May 31 of 2001.

Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves remanded the defendant and set the matter down for trial on August 18.

A 17-year-old woman was charged with sexually assaulting and keeping a teenage girl against her will in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The Devonshire teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and to holding the 15-year-old against her will between October 1 and October 31, of last year.

Crown counsel Koshea Scott did not object to bail. Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves released the woman on $2,500 bail with a like surety and set the matter down for trial on August 26.

A man who forged his grandmother's cheque and used the money to buy an airline ticket to London appeared in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Idrin Paynter, 27, of Pembroke, pleaded guilty to stealing his grandmother's cheque, forging and uttering it in November of last year.

Crown counsel Koshea Scott told the court that Paynter had been doing some odd jobs at his grandmother's house, when he stole the cheque.

He then cashed the cheque at the Bank of Bermuda for $860 and took the money to British Airways and purchased a flight to London.

She said he then flew out of the Island the next day and had not been back seen since.

Paynter was deported back to the Island on Saturday, August 9, and had been in custody since the weekend. Paynter was remorseful for what he did and hoped his victim would pardon him.

"I am sorry for what I did and I hope that they could forgive me," said Paynter.

"I want to pay them back."

Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves asked him what had happened to paying his grandmother back over the past eight months.

Paynter said: "I just came back on the weekend and I haven't had time, but I do plan to pay it back by any means necessary.

"I'm at the mercy of the courts."

Paynter told the court that he was in a "programme" in the UK, and was due back to the Island next week.

Mr. Greaves fined him $500 for stealing the cheque or six months in prison, a fine of $1,000 was doled out or an alternate 12 months in prison for falsifying the cheque and was fined another $1,000 or 12 months in prison for uttering the cheque.

Mr. Greaves also ordered him to pay back his grandmother $860. Paynter was ordered to pay the $2,500 fine now or go to jail now.

Despite a desperate plea that he was a reformed man, 24-year-old Colston J. McKenzie was imprisoned for six months for beating up his ex-girlfriend in a nightclub. Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves told McKenzie this week: "You haven't even learned how to be a man yet. You want locking up", after noting the Middletown, Pembroke man had previous convictions for similar crimes.

Crown counsel Cindy Clarke had described how McKenzie held his ex-girlfriend's Krystal Sterling's passport in front of her, asked if she wanted it back and then slapped her in the face with it while they were in the Ozone nightclub in the early hours of August 11 last year. He then went on to punch her in the buttocks.

McKenzie changed his plea at the last moment before going to trial.