A Moncton RCMP officer facing charges of sexually exploiting a teenaged girl says the girl made advances on him, but he rejected them.

Cpl. Al Boulianne, charged with two counts of sexual exploitation while in a position of trust, gave the Court of Queen's Bench his version of one of the alleged incidents of impropriety during a ride in his police vehicle in 2004.

Boulianne, who was the head of the Codiac RCMP detachment's traffic enforcement section, said the complainant, 15 years old at the time, leaned over and tried to kiss him.

He said he pushed away the girl, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, but then she warned him not to tell her father or she would paint Boulianne as the one who had initiated the kiss.

On another occasion, the complainant grabbed his crotch and tried to unzip his pants, he testified. She also massaged his neck and shoulders and said he was driving her crazy, he said.

"I'm a hugging-type person, but nothing sexual. I looked to her like my daughter," said Boulianne, who has been suspended with pay since 2007 when the allegations against him surfaced.

He said he now regrets allowing the complainant to visit his house after the first incident. He should have banished her from his house, he said, as the complainant looked on, occasionally crying during his testimony.

Boulianne described the complainant, who was a friend of his daughter's, as a troubled girl who had just moved to Moncton, missed her former friends and had a troubled relationship with her parents.

He said out of Christian compassion, he and his wife began treating the complainant as their own daughter, but the complainant responded inappropriately to that kindness.

He said she even began dressing like his wife and dyed her hair to look like hers.

On Monday, the complainant told the court Boulianne had sexually abused her during the time she was babysitting his children, but she only told her story to authorities after being pressured to do so by a boyfriend.

At the time of the alleged incidents, she had blamed herself for everything that had happened, she said.

Final arguments in the case will be heard Thursday.