After repeatedly sexually assaulting his 14-year-old relative, a Pembroke bus driver was yesterday sent to prison for 18 months.

The 29-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted in a June trial of two counts of sexually assaulting his wife?s relative, first in 2000, when she was 14 and again in 2002 when she was 17.

However, the man was originally charged with six counts of assault ? five of which dated back to around June, 2000 and were reduced to the one charge.

Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons yesterday handed down two 18-month prison sentences for the two charges, to run concurrently.

?Sexual assault is a serious offence,? Mrs. Justice Simmons said in her sentencing. ?And this court has the responsibility to protect young girls.

?The relative youth, the fact that he has no previous like offences and has had no jail terms. Sentencing is especially difficult in such a case when the defendant has expressed no contrition.?

The man sat quietly in the dock as Mrs. Justice Simmons read the sentence.

However, earlier in the sentencing hearing, the court had heard the feelings of the victim. ?I feel as though my innocence was taken advantage of,? the victim said in a statement which was read out in court. ?I trusted him.?

?But I am beginning to feel better about myself now that the trial is over.?

The defendant denied having assaulted the girl, but in June a ten-woman, two-man jury unanimously convicted him in less than two hours.

A social inquiry report revealed that the defendant felt no remorse for his actions and claimed that he had been wrongly convicted.

During the three-day trial the victim, whose identity must be protected for legal reasons, tearfully spoke of her three-year ordeal, which left her alienated from her family and suicidal.

Crown counsel Graveney Bannister said the woman was scared to report the matter to her family.

The victim, now 20, told the court that she had wanted to kill herself after the attacks and that when she was with her family she felt like the only unhappy family member in her home. She eventually resorted to staying out late at night to avoid her attacker.

She eventually confided in her school English teacher who informed the Police of the attacks.