Two female passengers from the cruise ship Meridian yesterday told how a 38-year-old cruise ship bartender sexually assaulted them.

The cruise ship worker has denied breaking and entering three passengers' cabins and sexually assaulting them during the early hours of the morning on August 3.

One of the victims, a 12-year-old girl from New York, who was shielded from the defendant in Magistrates' Court by a screen, said: "I felt someone touching me. I woke up and saw someone sitting on my bed and he was touching my leg.

"I said excuse me and he looked over at the other bed to see if my brother woke up. He (the defendant) then tried to kiss my leg and I pushed his head away.'' The American girl said she then hit the switch which turned on all the lights in the cabin and yelled for her 21-year-old brother who was asleep on another bed. When she did this, her brother ran after the intruder.

When asked by Crown Counsel Miss Charlene Scott if the stranger touched her anywhere else, the young girl replied: "He also touched in between my legs.'' The girl also added that the man was around the same height as her brother and had darker skin than she did but she "couldn't say anymore about the person''.

Her 21-year-old brother, who was asleep in another bed roughly two feet away, told the court: "I woke up and the lights were on and my sister was yelling my name. I saw the clock, it said around 5.30 (a.m.) and I saw a man jump up from her bed.

"He looked at me and said `I must go now'. He turned off the lights and left.'' The girl's brother also told how he followed the man, caught up with him and confronted him.

He said he then took the defendant, who did not resist, to ship security.

The brother identified the defendant days later, at a local Police Station, as the man who he followed out of the cabin.

But Mr. Ron Attride-Stirling, representing the man, questioned whether the girl's brother was able to get a good look of the intruder since the incident only lasted a matter of seconds, and he had just woken up.

The young man replied: "No that's not true. He looked at me in the eyes and he was about three feet from me.'' Mr. Attride-Stirling then questioned him about his family's attempt to sue the ship, the amount of the suit and if an requital in this case would affect the law suit.

"I don't know,'' the brother replied.

Another female passenger, from Connecticut, told the court: "I woke up to a hand touching my right inner thigh. At first I assumed it was my husband and I just nudged him away without opening my eyes.

"The second time I turned my head and focused on this face right next to me.

I saw a uniform and realised it wasn't my husband (who was asleep on the bottom bunk).'' She recalled trying to scream, but nothing came out, she said, adding that the intruder -- who had a camera case in his right hand -- "had the audacity'' to look at her as he was leaving.

The married woman also told the court that she saw the intruder on the gangplank being held by security men later that morning and "gasped for air'' when she saw him.

During cross-examination she admitted that she was in a haze when she first woke up, that the entire incident happened very quickly, and that she settled out of court a lawsuit related to the incident with the cruise ship for $20,000.

All the witnesses testified that they were sure they locked their cabin doors before going to sleep.

The trial resumes this morning before Acting Magistrate the Wor. Kenneth Brown.