A man accused of breaking and entering and sexual assault claimed he was trying to arouse his victim in an effort to calm her down.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, gave evidence in Magistrates' Court yesterday and insisted he did not try to force himself upon the woman who is well known to him.

The 45-year-old St. George's man admitted threatening a woman with intent to cause alarm, but not guilty to breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony and sexual assault.

The offences were alleged to have occurred on the evening of May 16, in to the early morning of May 17.

The defendant confirmed the plaintiff phoned him at about noon on May 16 to ask for help to pay a phone bill.

The two spent the day together and went back to the plaintiff's apartment at approximately 8 p.m. but the man said she left the house after an argument over drugs.

He then left the house, planning to return later.

The defendant also left, planning to return later, and he said: "I went back and anger provoked me to confront her (about the earlier argument).

"I went to the back entrance, looked through the glass louvres which had about three panes missing anyway, and I saw she was at the kitchen table with a well known associate engaging in the indulgence of crack cocaine.

"So I knocked on the door and they let me in, the door was open so I walked in.'' Richard Horseman, for the defendant, then asked him what happened.

He said: "He (the woman's associate) wanted to be alone with her, so I urged him to give me a piece of crack, and I left because I thought she wanted to be alone with him.'' He said he intended to smoke the rock and return when "the coast was clear''.

He returned a few hours later, knocked on the door and when the plaintiff answered, said they needed to talk.

She refused and the defendant told her that if she did not open the door he was coming through it.

He said: "So I walked through the door, I just broke through the slats and went through the screen.

"I was determined that she listen to what I had to say, so I grabbed a knife and followed her into the bedroom and I used it as a bluff so she wouldn't talk as what I had to say was deadly serious.

"I did not expect her reaction, she got scared as I vented my anger.'' He said he was bluffing with the knife and never intended to hurt her, so he "huffed and puffed and bluffed for about an hour''.

He said at this point he could see she was very afraid, and so he threw the knife out of the window and tried to console her by massaging her.

He said: "I massaged her for an hour and tried to see if she was sexually aroused, see if her flame was lit by that time. "I discovered that this was not the case, she was inconsolable so I ceased and desisted from any further attempt to have sex.'' And he said once it became apparent that she did not want to have sex, he stopped and got off the bed.

Under cross examination by crown prosecutor Oongah Goodred, she asked the defendant if during his massaging of the plaintiff, he ever touched her private parts.

He said: "possibly, that's what I do when I try to excite somebody.'' Ms Goodred asked if he was trying to excite her, to which he replied: "That would be the wrong term, this was not my intention.'' Magistrate Edward King asked him: "If you didn't want sex, why did you end up trying to masturbate?'' The defendant said: "I was trying to excite her, stimulate her from a distance.'' It was put to the defendant that he wanted sex as he tried to excite and stimulate her, to which he replied, "No sir, that's no the truth, I was trying to make her relax.'' Uner cross examination, the man said he was physically unable to have intercourse with the woman.

Ms Goodred then asked if he recalled saying in a statement to Police: "I went to put my penis in her vagina but I didn't even get halfway in.'' The defendant replied that he recalled the he told Police that there was no penetration, period, and the statement sounded very wrong. Mr. King told him however that he had signed the Police statement agreeing it was true.

Ms Goodred then put it to him that he told Police that he tried to have sex with her.

"Yes I was trying to coax that possibility,'' said the defendant.

Ms Goodred then put it to the defendant that the plaintiff was frightened and fearful and did not want to have sex with him.

But he said the woman was placid.

There were no further questions.

Under re-examination by Mr. Horseman, he was asked: "After rejection what did you do?'' "I got off the bed and tried to masturbate,'' he said.

There were no further questions, and the defence closed its case.

In summation, Mr. King said: "The truth sometimes sets you free, it sometimes locks you up.'' Attorneys will meet before Mr. King next week for legal submissions, and judgment will be delivered at the end of the month.

The defendant's bail was extended.