A 50-year-old building contractor  pleaded not guilty yesterday to attempting to  commit a felony when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson.

On June 18 in Georgetown, Cornel Alves of Gas Station Street, Mahdia,   is alleged to have attempted to break  and enter the dwelling house of Marsha Alley.

Alves in his defence told the magistrate that he had gotten off a bus on Albert Street and was going to see a doctor when he was stopped by the police and the Virtual Complainant accused him of being in her yard. He said he was taken into custody and then taken to Brickdam Police Station.

The VC however said that when she had peeped out of her window she saw Alves at a standpipe washing his hands. She said when she looked out again she saw Alves attempting to take a louvre   out of her window.

When she asked him what he was doing, Alley said Alves told her his sister had sent him to replace a window. There was nothing wrong with the window, Alley told the court.

Meanwhile,  Prosecutor Inspector Stephen Telford asked for an early date in the matter, adding that the account given by the VC was the account the police had. Further, Telford asked that the man be remanded.

Alves, however,  was subsequently placed on $50,000 bail and is to return to Court Two on July 26.