The mother of an alleged female victim in a child sexual exploitation case was in the witness box yesterday.

A 31-year-old St. George's man is accused of fondling the girl on three separate occasions when she was six years old.

The accused man is known to the girl through his wife. Yesterday, the girl's mother testified that the accused man's wife was formerly employed by the girl's family.

Much of the mother's testimony before Magistrate Justin Williams was disjointed as she was prevented from testifying as to what the girl, or anyone else, told her.

The mother had to be sent out of the court on two occasions while Crown counsel Juan Wolffe and defence attorney Liz Christopher argued over what was acceptable testimony.

As these arguments dragged on, the girl's other supporters in the public gallery appeared visibly frustrated, shaking their heads at the mother's unsuccessful attempts to tell what she believed happened to the girl in her own voice.

The accused man, whose first language is not English, is accompanied in court by a translator. Several friends and family of the accused have also been regularly attending the trial.

Yesterday, her mother told the court that in August and September of last year, the girl began to exhibit unusual behaviour. "We'd been noticing some unsettled behaviour for about a month prior to this date (September 9, 2000),'' she said.

The mother testified that she had noticed the girl was whining a lot and angry. "She was demanding of my time,'' she said.

The mother said the girl "blurted'' something out to her, which the mother then had the girl repeat to the father.

The girl was then taken to see a doctor, the mother told the court, and later to see Dr. Ann Dell Duncan, a child psychologist.

The trial continues today.