months prison yesterday for indecently assaulting a teenage tourist on a beach.

Magistrate the Wor. John Judge said it was the worst sex attack case he had come across in his nine years on the bench.

"It is a very bad case,'' Mr. Judge said. "It involves an indecent assault on a public beach on a girl in her mid teens.

"(The case) only stopped short of rape because she was sufficiently agile to escape.'' Mr. Judge made a "strong recommendation'' that Rickie Thompson, 33, receive psychiatric treatment while at Casemates Prison. He stood with his hands in his pockets and had nothing to say before being sentenced.

Noting the crime carried a five-year maximum penalty, prosecutor Ms Sharon Kenny had asked for a "higher-range sentence''.

Thompson's lawyer Ms Sonia Grant called the case sad, especially because her client said he wanted to go to prison and "do his time''.

But she said it was a more serious indictment on the judicial system if he was incarcerated and there was no medical treatment afforded him in jail.

"He needs constant medical treatment,'' she said, adding he was remorseful and had cooperated fully with Police.

Thompson admitted grabbing the 15-year-old American girl while she was walking with a friend on a beach trail near Horseshoe Bay.

He tried to drag her into a secluded area and her friend ran for help, Crown counsel Ms Kenny said.

Thompson managed to pull her bikini top off, exposing her breasts. He also tried to pull off her bikini bottom while rubbing himself against her legs and trying to force them open.

The girl bit Thompson on the chest and was able to escape. Thompson was arrested two days later and admitted the offence.

He told Police he had an "uncontrollable sexual urge'', Ms Kenny said at his hearing last month.

Mr. Judge had remanded him in custody pending a psychiatric report. Ms Kenny said the Crown's concern was that while the report indicated he was of "borderline intelligence'', it also noted he was streetwise and knew the consequences of his actions. Furthermore, he had a history of indecent behaviour and assault, beginning in 1977. And the offences were "escalating in terms of seriousness''.