A 33-year-old Jamaican national was yesterday cleared of sexually assaulting a mother.

A jury of eight women and four men took just an hour to find the man not guilty after a week-long trial.

He grinned as the jury foreman told Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons at Supreme Court that the decision was unanimous.

Earlier, the man?s defence counsel Shade Subair had urged the jury to acquit her client.

She said the woman?s story ? that she had given the man a lift to his home in a central parish before he forcibly had sex with her ? did not add up.

?It?s an insult to common sense,? she said.

?We suggest that the story is a lie. Why would she lie? That?s a matter for you.?

The trial had heard claims from the defence that the woman, who sobbed when giving her evidence, had offered to have sex with the man for $100 after asking him if he could sell her cocaine.

The defendant said he only paid her $50 but promised to give her the extra the next day. He had no intention of doing so, he admitted, because the sex had not lasted long enough and she had told him not to ejaculate.

Ms Subair said yesterday that the woman was a ?prostitute? who had been ?short-changed?.

?It?s not a nice story,? she added.

?It doesn?t really put any party in a favourable light. But it doesn?t make him guilty of sexual assault.?

She said there was no way the jury could be sure that he sexually assaulted the woman and so must clear him of the charge.

?This man?s life is as important as anybody else?s life,? she concluded.

The judge told the jury that if they believed the testimony given by the man they had to acquit him.

?If you do not believe the testimony ... but you are left with a reasonable doubt ... you must acquit him,? she said.

?Even if you are not left in doubt by the testimony of (the man) you must decide whether on the basis of the evidence you are sure of his guilt.?

The prosecution had claimed the assault took place in the early hours of November 16, 2003, after the complainant met the man outside the Swinging Doors nightclub.