AN employee of one of the nation's child care institutions who was last year accused of touching a ward of the state on her breast was Tuesday freed of a sex charge in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

The accused, Michael James, 52, of Maxfield Avenue in Kingston, who was employed as a handyman at the Glenhope Place of Safety was arrested and charged with indecent assault following allegations that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl at the home on March 24.

When the matter came up in court an officer from the Child Development Agency told Resident Magistrate Georgianna Fraser that the complainant was transferred to another home where she ran away and that no one knows her whereabouts.

As a result the prosecution offered no evidence in case and the magistrate issued a no-order ruling after James pleaded not guilty.

According to James, the teenager got angry at him and made a false report to the police because she claimed he had picked mangoes and had not given any to her even though he had given some to other girls.