An under-age illegal immigrant was yesterday convicted of sexually assaulting a care worker and given a suspended jail term after a court felt the version of events given by the victim was more credible.

The 17-year-old Ethiopian attacked the 23-year-old Maltese carer as she was walking out of the kitchen at Liedna House in Fgura, a residence for immigrant minors.

Taking the witness stand, she described the incident. "He grabbed me from behind and told me to kiss him. He said, kiss me, kiss me just once. He then held my face and licked my cheek moving on to grab my breasts and private parts."

Frightened, she pushed him and ran off to tell the house coordinator. She filed a police report the following day only because she could not leave the home that night.

The accused denied any wrongdoing and said that he had only pushed her out of the way so he could continue cleaning the kitchen.

Magistrate Lawrence Quintano said that he found the victim's testimony to be far more credible than that of the accused.

He gave the youngster a jail term of four months suspended for one year, taking into consideration that according to law he faced between three months and a year in prison but that he was a minor and had already spent two months in preventative custody.