A HEALTH care assistant carried out an intimate sexual health test on a teenage schoolgirl 'contrary to all proper procedure', a jury was told.
Damien Bible, 26, had no accreditation to perform the test on the girl, who was under 16 at the time and was with two young friends, both teenage girls, Bolton Crown Court was told.
The jury was told that Bible, who was working at The Parallel, a health clinic for young people in Bolton that offers sexual health advice, used a cotton swab in an intimate examination to test the girl for chlamydia.
He performed the test as the girl lay partially undressed on an examination table in his consultation room as the other two girls were present, said Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting.
The jury was told that he did not wear gloves or wash his hands.
Bible is also accused of asking the girl a number of 'inappropriate questions' relating to the girl's sexual experience.
The jury of seven men and five women were told that he also asked for her phone number then called her repeatedly in the days that followed, asking her to call him.
Bible, of Gainsborough Avenue in Daubhill, Bolton, denies a single charge of engaging in sexual activity with a child in January last year.
Mr Dickinson said the girl first had a smear test in December 2006 and went to the clinic weeks later to be told the results. She took two friends for support.
But Bible, the jury was told, advised her that she should take another test.
The results of the initial test were clear, Mr Dickinson said.
He said: "She went along with two of her friends to get the results. It was the defendant in his role as health care advisor who saw her. He called her into his consultation room. Her friends went in with her. He told her that her earlier test results had come back clear. He advised her that she should do another test for a sexually transmitted disease."
The jury was told there are two ways to perform a test, either by a urine sample or by using a cotton bud.
Mr Dickinson said the physical method was usually a self-test kit but the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was not confident enough to perform the test herself.
He said: "Ordinarily it would be done by a proper doctor not a health care assistant. A doctor would have to have chaperones."
Mr Dickinson added that 'contrary to all proper procedure', Bible offered to carry out the test himself.
He said: "She agreed to him doing it as long as her friends could stay with her. That is what happened."
The jury was told that the test lasted double the amount of time it should usually took.
Bible, Mr Dickinson said, then placed the swab in a container. He said: "All this took place in front of her two friends.
"While he was doing it, the defendant asked her a number of inappropriate questions. In the days that followed, he appeared to call her on her own mobile phone a number of times, suggesting that she should get in touch with him."
The jury was told that the girl informed a nurse at her school about the test because she was anxious to get the results.
The school and the clinic 'shared information' and the nurse 'became concerned' and reported it to her manager, the jury was told.
The police were called in April and Bible was arrested in July, the court heard.
Bible said in police interview that he had worked at the clinic on a part-time basis since April 2006 but became a full-time member of staff months later in November. He denied that he had performed the test, saying the girl tested herself on the day behind closed curtains. Bible also claims that he had shouted instructions at her.
Mr Dickinson said: "There is a straight conflict between what the three say and what the defendant says."
The jury was played a DVD recording of the interview she gave to police. She said that Bible asked her to have another test 'just in case'.
Under cross-examination from defence counsel Ian McMeekin, the girl denied that she carried out the swab herself.
Mr McMeekin claimed Bible had directed her to a poster that explained how to carry out the procedure behind the curtained off area.
Proceeding