IAN ALLEYNE, host of CCN TV6's Crime Watch programme, is expected to be sentenced this morning when he reappears in the Port of Spain Magistrates' Court on three charges contrary to the Sexual Offences Act.

Last Monday, Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar said she would be passing sentence on Alleyne today after he pleaded guilty to the charges two weeks ago.

Alleyne was slapped with the charges after he aired a video showing the rape of a 13-year-old girl on three separate occasions during his programme in October, 2011.

He also faces an additional charge of resisting ASP Ajith Persad in the execution of his duties.

To that charge, however, Alleyne has maintained his not-guilty plea.

When he first appeared before Ayers-Caesar last April, Alleyne had pleaded not guilty to all four charges, but on March 7 he changed his plea to guilty on the sexual offences charges.

Following the guilty pleas, State prosecutor George Busby was asked by Ayers-Caesar for the facts in the matter before passing sentence. But Busby said he was unaware Alleyne had decided to change his pleas and, as such, he was unable to present the State's case at the time.

The magistrate had adjourned the matter to last Monday, when Alleyne's attorney, Om Lalla, made his plea in mitigation after Busby presented the evidence against Alleyne.

Lalla said Alleyne accepted that he had broken the law by airing the video but he did not do so out of malice toward the victim or her relatives.

The attorney said his client aired the video with the intention of having the rapist identified and arrested. Less then 48 hours after the airing of the video, a suspect was arrested, said Lalla.

Alleyne is charged under Section 32(2) of the Sexual Offences Act. He can be sent to prison for up to five years and fined up to $25,000 on each charge.