A 40-year-old Devonshire man accused of attempted incest, will learn his fate in Supreme Court this afternoon.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has denied charges of sexually exploiting his daughter and attempted incest on April 3, 1996 in Somerset.

The man, maintained yesterday morning under cross examination by Crown counsel Charlene Scott that nothing improper happened when he woke his child up at 2.30 a.m. to rub his neck and back.

The father and daughter made their way to his bedroom where the youngster rubbed him down. At issue is what happened during the time the two were in the bedroom.

The man's daughter, who was 11-years-old at the time of the alleged incident, claims her father removed her underwear, rubbed himself against her groin and tried to get her to touch his penis while they were in his bed.

Yesterday during cross examination, the man agreed it was an "outrageous hour'' to be waking his daughter when she had school the next morning.

And he admitted that he did not ask any other member of his family -- his mother or two sons -- to rub him down when he returned home, feeling ill, earlier that evening.

During closing arguments, Ms Scott urged the six-man, six-woman jury to remember the girl's young age when considering her testimony.

"You have to look at the child differently,'' she said. "You have to take into account her age, limited experience and knowledge.'' And Ms Scott reminded the jury of Dr. Keith Cunningham's testimony that he found evidence of frictional injury to the girl's groin.

"Because the mother took action quickly, we have the doctor's evidence to corroborate her story that something happened,'' she said.

But defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher argued that the child made up the allegations because she did not like living with her father.

The man and his common law wife of 25 years had separated before the alleged incident and the girl and two of her three brothers were living with their father.

During cross examination on Wednesday the girl admitted that she would have done "anything'' to live with her mother.

"She had done things prior to this to get to live with her mother,'' Ms Christopher told the jury. "None of them had worked and this (allegation) was a natural progression.'' Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux is due to sum up the case.