Taylor Swift fan due in court to face trespass charge

A 55-year-old Taylor Swift fan is due in court on Friday (23Aug13) to face charges of trespassing at the singer's Rhode Island retreat in July (13).

Joseph Bernatche has pleaded not guilty to a charge of wilful trespass stemming from his arrest at the star's beach house on 27 July (13).

The Maine native allegedly drove all the way to Swift's property and handed a security guard a note with his phone number and asked him to pass it on to the singer.

Bernatche was pulled over by police officers as he drove away and they later charged him with ignoring a no-trespassing notice he was given after allegedly making his way onto the star's property in April (13).

His lawyer, Michael J. Robinson, insists Bernatche was not on Swift's property when he delivered the note.

Robinson says, "Mr. Bernatche showed up and parked at the house next to Taylor Swift's. He was carrying a note. He signals to the security guard to come down and hands him the note.

"He says, 'I'm not here to trespass, I'm just here to deliver this note. If you would kindly give this to Taylor Swift, that's my sole purpose for being here.' The security guard reads the note, gets the license plate, and my client walks away.

"He was driving away from Ms. Swift's property when he was stopped and arrested by the Westerly Police."