The 64-year-old victim of a knifepoint sexual assault has been spared the ordeal of a trial — after her attacker abruptly switched his plea to guilty.Neville Craig Richardson, 44, of no fixed abode, yesterday covered his head with a jacket as prison officers led him down the steps of the Supreme Court.Just hours before the jury was to be sworn in, Richardson opted to reverse his earlier denial of the February 13 offences.Richardson’s first court hearing heard he’d asked his victim to let him use her cellular phone to make an emergency call.He then held her at knifepoint and forced her to perform a sex act before taking her car and making her drive him to withdraw $400 from an ATM.Appearing in the dock before Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons, Richardson initially denied the charge of aggravated burglary charge by entering a Pembroke dwelling as a trespasser, armed with a knife, and taking a cellular phone plus cash.Richardson also faced a second charge of serious sexual assault while threatening his victim with the bladed article — plus a charge of robbery.But he retracted his not guilty pleas and admitted to the offences as his trial was about to start.At his Magistrates’ Court hearing in March, Richardson was described by prosecutors as having “an extensive record of previous convictions”.In 2011, Richardson was fined $2,000 after admitting possession of cannabis. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to resisting arrest and using offensive words to police.A court in 2003 heard he had a long history of drug offences, when Richardson admitted to a $3,671 cheque fraud to pay off drug debts.Richardson was represented yesterday by defence lawyer Larry Mussenden, with Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Cindy Clarke appearing on behalf of the Crown.He is to be sentenced this week for the attack.