children to testify for the first time in a case of alleged sexual assault.

Two girls, aged six and seven, are expected to testify at a preliminary inquiry in Magistrates' Court, shielded from the gallery by a specially erected screen to protect their identity, in front of Magistrate the Wor.

Edward King.

According to Mrs. Sheelagh Cooper, co-chairman of the Coalition for the Protection of Children, it is a "ground-breaking'' change in policy made possible because of cooperation between the Police, the Attorney General and the Coalition.

"This is something we have been lobbying for for several years and this is a positive move,'' she added.

"What makes the handling of this case fundamentally different is that the children have been allowed to testify. The policy has almost always precluded very young children from testifying. I suspect this is the first time,'' she added.

Mrs. Cooper said that in North America and Canada children as young as three and four-years-old had been allowed to testify "because very often they are the only witnesses. In Bermuda this has not been the case''.

In Britain, videos are used to cut out the need for children to appear in court and Mrs. Cooper said she hoped the same system could be used in Bermuda.

Yesterday, a Bermudian man appeared at Magistrates' Court charged with two counts of touching with a part of his body the part of the body of a girl under the age of 14.

At the preliminary hearing, Mr. King excluded the public and the Press from the court, a decision challenged by The Royal Gazette .

However, despite being legally represented by Mrs. Gwyneth Tait Carey, The Royal Gazette lost its appeal to be allowed to stay in the court to hear the evidence being presented. A further appeal is being considered.

Under the Indictable Offences Act, the presiding Magistrate has the discretion to order the public and Press from the court. No-one can then be admitted without his consent.