and proceeded into his bedroom and sat on his bed. That he joined her inside and they started chatting and the complainant said she would do something for him so that he could help her with some money. According to the accused, the complainant started touching his body and he too responded. That the complainant started telling him that she loved him and offered to have sex with him. That before that he had asked her whether she was a virgin and she had responded no and that she used to have sex. That he then protected himself and had sex with her. In his further testimony, the accused stated that he never thought the complainant was a young girl. However, that he knew that the complainant had just completed her grade 9. He testified that the average age for students who completed grade 9 was 18 years and above and then stated that his believe was rather 17 years or above. The accused further stated that as a teacher and a young man, it occurred to him that the complainant was 18years and above. In response to the question why does he think that the complainant was 18 years or above, the accused responded that it was because of the size of her body. That she was tall big and matured just like all her friends and that he never thought that she was below the age of 18years and had believed that she was 18 years old. It is his testimony that the complainant looks different now, because she was bigger in size then. In his further testimony, the accused stated that when the complainant’s pregnancy was reported to him eight months into her pregnancy, he had asked the complainant’s father to come along with her so that he could ask her personally, but that she never came. That he repeated the same thing to him two days later when they met. That he accepted the pregnancy conditionally because he did have sex with her and the matter had been made a police case who were torturing and pressuring him. The accused further testified that at the police station, he was given a paper and told to confess that he was responsible because the complainant has said it was him. That he greed in his statement that he was responsible because they had started to slap him and took him into the cell. That after writing his statement, he was allowed to go home to come back the next day only to be told that the matter was forwarded to the child Welfare Unit at the Police Headquarters in Banjul. The accused further testified that at Banjul, he was told to write exactly what he wrote at Brikama or would be maltreated and he did. It is also his testimony that when the complainant gave birth, he was called to see the baby but he refused because she had already taken the matter to court and he was not also sure if the baby was his. However, that the baby is being taken care of by his people. Under cross-examination, the accused stated that children normally go to grade 1 at the age of 8 or 9 years and would leave Lower Basic School at 15 or 16 years. He disagrees that if you start at 9 years you should then finish grade 6 at 14 years because you may repeat and disagrees that if you repeat once you would finish at 15 years. Still under cross-