nursery school after she was placed on probation yesterday.

Andrea Irene Tucker, 36, of Spanish Point, admitted she molested a boy she babysat between his sixth and 12th birthdays.

The offences did not occur at the Kidds Kollege nursery school on Union and Dundonald streets where Tucker worked from 1985 to 1992. The nursery let Tucker go when the charges were laid.

But at a sentencing hearing in Supreme Court yesterday, lawyer Miss Patricia Harvey said Tucker's former employers "would now like to have her back''.

As he outlined the terms of her three years probation, Puisne Judge the Hon.

Mr. Justice Ward encouraged Tucker to return to work. "You have to go and get a job,'' he said. "The church people (involved with the nursery school) have said they will re-employ you.'' Tucker said she would go to see about the job today.

Ms Ruby Smith, director of Kidds Kollege, wrote a letter presented at Tucker's sentencing which read in part: "We do miss her and regret that we had to let her go.'' The court was told Tucker began regularly babysitting the boy in 1983. She kissed the six-year-old on the mouth, fondled him, and had him handle her breasts.

By the time he was eight, the boy said Tucker took their clothes off and attempted intercourse. The molestation eventually ended when the boy was 11 or 12 years old. He kept silent until he was 14. After her arrest, Tucker did not deny having intercourse or oral sex with the boy.

The boy suffers flashbacks, headaches, and abdominal pains that could be related to the abuse, the court was told.

But psychologist Dr. Norma Astwood, who has counselled Tucker for the past year, said the woman had made so much progress that she would now hire her to look after children in her charge.

Tucker used to be child-like and had low self-esteem, but now "she has a better understanding of some of the reasons why she behaved that way and is more appropriately assertive,'' she said.

She would benefit from ongoing counselling in several areas, Dr. Astwood said.

Rather than a prison term, "that appears to me to be best serviced in the community, under supervision and with close monitoring.'' But Crown counsel Mr. Stephen Harrison called for a prison term. He noted the offences continued over six years and involved a breach of trust.

Mr. Justice Ward said Tucker's crime was "a serious case of indecent assault on a young child,'' but incarcerating the woman would benefit neither her nor society.

As a term of her probation, Tucker is to continue receiving counselling.