A bus driver was remanded into custody last night after a jury unanimously found him guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage relative of his wife in 2000 and 2002.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is expected to be returned to the Supreme Court on July 4 when a date for sentencing will be set.

The ten-woman, two-man jury took less than two hours to convict him of rubbing the victim?s breasts, and touching her vagina in Warwick, some time in July 2000, when she was 15-years-old. He was also found guilty of rubbing his penis against her back and putting his hand down the front of her jeans on April 25, 2002.

Outside the court yesterday, the young woman, now 20, said she felt relieved.

In his closing arguments Crown counsel Graveney Bannister said the 29-year-old was sexually aroused by his teenage family-member and actively pursued her by calling her ?hot stuff?, adding: ?In fishing terminology he was tossing out bait to chum up the fish. He was telling her words he wanted to hear to try to arouse her sexually.?

The 29-year-old told his victim she was looking ?finer every day? he said, and even asked her if she liked to be ?eaten?.

Mr. Bannister characterised the man as being ?hesitant, hostile and evasive? during his cross-examination. Mr. Bannister also noted the man waited until the victim?s grandmother was at a funeral in the 2002 incident before assaulting her, he said.

He also told jurors young victims were less inclined to report assaults to the authorities, he said, which is why her English teacher informed Police about the sexual assaults. ?Put yourself in the shoes of a 15-year-old girl in 2000, or a 17-year-old in 2002,? he said. ?Would you not be afraid to tell??

The man admitted to entering the girl?s room but said it was to ?watch movies on her television with his family?.

Defence lawyer Peter Farge attacked the victim?s testimony, challenging the victim?s testimony that his client was working at the Sonesta Beach Resort in 2000. Witness Karen Dill, director of Human Resources at Wyndam Bermuda Resort and Spa, said the man had stopped working at Sonesta on September 23, 2001. Mr. Farge claimed the victim had a motive to lie, saying: ?Rather than having the run of the house, she was clamped up in the same bed as her granny.?

Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons combined several of the five charges that took place in July 2000 into one, ruling that the extra charges would confuse a jury.