It is apparently OK to have sex with a 12 year old

[epicfail]

No really, I kid you not. Where I live, it is absolutely fine. Just so long as you 'reasonably believe' the child to be 18. Oh, and it helps if you are also on some kind of medication that causes hypersexualisation, which in turn causes you to become 'addicted' to using prostitutes.

NONE of the other (up to 120) men who had sex with this girl will be charged, even though some have admitted to it, because the room they were in was too dark and dingy for them to have 'reasonably known' that she was 12.
Also, each case would have had to have been tried individually meaning the girl would have had to to testify each time.

www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/11/29/280691_scalesofjustice.html

The back stories are all there under the Scales of Justice heading.

I am sitting here in tears of impotent frustration. How? HOW can this happen?

[suburbophobe]

Ugh, disgusting! An MP and a mayor no less...

Shocked that a. he's let off and b. that the judge blames the medication...

That poor poor child being prostituted by her mother.

The mind boggles.

Are you in Australia? Can you get some kind of uproar going? Surely everyone with a sense of decency must be shocked and horrified by this.

[littleducks]

What has happened to the mother?

[SnapesMistress]

Disgusting, Even the jury said that there was no way he could have thought she was 18.

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

Oh my actual god, this is just awful. :(

So if your medication makes you really need sexual relief, it's ok to use the body of a child to give you that relief? That's a mitigating factor in some way?

"Justice Porter chose to give extensive reasons for his decision not to jail Martin" - oh, would it be that he just really really didn't want to? He's such a fine upstanding citizen and all.

[epicfail]

The mother and step-father/pimp received 10 year jail sentences.

[epicfail]

suburbophobe the sentence was handed down quite late today our time. Outrage will no doubt boil over in tomorrow's media. There have already been petitions to the government (over 12 months ago) relating to the non-prosecution of any of the other 100 or so men. Obviously these had no effect.

How can this judge live with himself. Surely the posession of child porn (some of it depicting children as young as 8), in itself would have been grounds for a tougher sentence.

[msrisotto]

Fuck the world still surprises me sometimes.

[jamma111]

Happening elsewhere. It's a worldwide issue;

Asian Human Rights Commission - A 12 year-old Christian is gang raped for eight months, forcibly converted and then 'married' to her Muslim attacker

This one though hasn't seen a prosecution...other than a threat by police against the parents of the child.

[epicfail]

There is a protest outside our Parliament House on Sunday.

In today's paper the Judge's reasons for no jail term were:
? The complainant was genuinely exploited.
?A wide disparity existed between the ages of Martin and the complainant but there was no suggestion he was seeking an underage sex partner.
?There was no suggestion he was aware of her true age.
?There was a large number of pictures taken of the girl and kept as they were locked in Martin's study, "they could have fallen into the wrong hands".
?The pictures were at the lower end of the legal scale in terms of child exploitation material.
?Martin was not the complainant's "sole corrupter".
?The commission of the crimes was directly connected to medication Martin was prescribed "but for the medication he would not have engaged the services of sex workers".
?The medication lowered his inhibitions and affected his moral capacity.
?He gave police his full co-operation and potentially provided the evidence that saw him charged.
?His reputation has been severely harmed, if not destroyed.
?There is no likelihood of reoffending.

A 'scale' in terms of child exploitation material? This is akin to saying there are degrees of rape!

He wouldnt have gone to prostitutes if he wasnt on his medication... so he has no free will at all? Are all Parkinsons sufferers taking that medication physically compelled to visit prostitutes?

Oh and his reputation is harmed. Well cry me a fucking river. Why does the court care? Why should anyone care? For the love of God - what about the victim??

[MsAnnTeak]

This is absolutely shocking and disgraceful on all levels, from the mother and her friend, the men who had sex with the 12yr old and the judge who sentenced him. All of those involved in the crimes should have been given at least a 20yr sentence and the judge should be struck off.
What sort of a message does this send out other than it's okay to abuse children.

[Beachcomber]

There are no words.

This child was being prostituted - every filthy john that had sex with her is guilty of child rape and abuse.

All this 'but I thought she was 18 like wot it said in the advert guv', crap is disgusting and so obviously just rapey bullshit.

I bet most of them wouldn't have wanted masturbate into this child if she had been a middle aged women. Sick misogynist bastards, like fucking 18 year olds because they are 'barely legal/fresh meat' - that is part of the turn on. That the prostituted person is most likely under 18 is perfectly obvious to them - they don't care, in fact they prefer it that way.

That a judge doesn't get this basic fact about johns is very very depressing but unfortunately hardly surprising.

Does make one wonder what the judge in question gets up to if he thinks abusing 12 year olds for cash is not such a bad thing.

I hate the fucking patriarchy.

[AnyFucker]

< vomits >

< vomits some more >

[MsAnnTeak]

Beachcomber, what are your opinions on the two women who groomed the child and facilitated the 100 men to have sex with her, presumably they were the ones who were taking the money ?

[Beachcomber]

Why do you ask?

I don't know much about the pimp (Gary Devine). Can you post some info? Thanks.

A mother prostituting her daughter is a terrible thing.

I blame the patriarchy. The mother is in jail isn't she?

[epicfail]

Devine was the partner of the girl's mother. He is in his 50s. He is a real charmer - he is/was also being investigated for possibly fathering a child with the girl's older sister (who was 15 at the time). He actually lodged an appeal against his ten year sentence but subsequently dropped it, after there were calls from the public and the Commissioner for Children to lodge an appeal to have the sentence lengthened.
The mother has never been identified so as to protect the identity of the girl.

I should know better than to read the comments on the local news site - many people are defending Terry Martin because of his Parkinsons medication. It has been reported that he is now thinking of joining a class action against the pharmaceutical company. I hate to think that he might possibly receive some kind of financial compensation for his 'problem'!

jamma111 the story you linked is just heartbreaking.

[HandDivedScallopsrgreat]

Over 100 men thought it was OK to have sex with this little girl, they don't get jailed and you are worried about what we think of the Mother ( who has been jailed and punished for her part of this atrocity), MsAnnTeak. Strange priorities there .

I mean over 100 men felt it was their right to have sex with a 12 year old and so did the Judge. What kind of fucked up society do we live in?

Vile vile vile.

[Beachcomber]

Well exactly - the mother has been dealt with by the justice system.

The johns/child rapists have not. Child rape is AOK, as long as you claim you thought she was older - that's patriarchy for you.

Middle aged men masturbating into coerced 18 year olds is disgusting enough - middle aged men masturbating into 12 year olds but justifying that by claiming they thought the child they were raping was an adult, is very very disturbing. Representatives of the law deciding that all is well in good with this scenario is chilling and takes misogyny to another whole level.

Devine sounds like the sort of person who should go up against the wall come the revolution (as does the judge).

[AnyFucker]

I don't want to live in that kind of society

[LegsAkimboTimeToBlush]

What the hell is wrong with people.

[Beachcomber]

Also this is, to me, an example of what happens in societies in which prostitution, brothels and pimping are legal, state endorsed and condoned - people lose their moral compass.

It is very simple - if fucking 18 year olds for money is considered wrong by society, then fucking 12 years olds will be considered heinous.

If fucking 18 year olds for money is fine and dandy and endorsed by the state, fucking 12 year olds is a mistake anybody could make, right?

Under current UK law, these men would all have been done for raping a trafficked minor - that they claimed not to know that she was either trafficked, or a minor, would not be considered a defence.

That poor poor child.

[AyeSmagic]

I remember when this case first came to light about a year ago or so. I really didn't think it could get any worse and it enrages me to think that so much power resides in the hands of those who are totally unsuited to wield it.

That poor girl. No-one was looking out for her.

Good to see you back, Beachcomber.

[Beachcomber]

Thanks Aye! I often lurk, just don't always post.

[Prolesworth]

Men get away with this scot free in the UK too. Six footballers were cleared of raping two 12 year old girls in a park: the judge said the girls wanted it (apologies for the daily fail link)

[AyeSmagic]

Likewise, Beachcomber.

Proles - that case enrages me too. I think these judges need empathy re-calibration or a humanity transplant because they are failing on both counts. Funny how they seem more able to put themselves in the shoes of the criminal, not the victim.

Tazers issued to baby girls, please, because the law isn't protecting females. Even the IPCC is better at seeing the wood for the trees than the CPS and the judiciary. These men are free to keep on doing what they have already done - they are a danger to women and girls. Does anyone really believe that they are going to stop doing this shit?

[Beachcomber]

Agreed Proles. That case was terrible too.

The fact that this child was being prostituted, may have made a difference if this case had been in the UK, in the light of the new law about not knowing a person to be trafficked as not being a defence. Perhaps not though - I guess it all comes down to whether the judge is a normal human being or whether they are a piece of misogynist filth like the disgrace in this case. I still can't quite believe that this has been allowed to happen.