Only a politician could get away with this

[Ben]

I tried to post this in the Create show prep thing but it kept setting off the spam filter, so I've posted it here.

http://www.news.com.au/national/former-mp-terry-martin-walks-free-after-sex-with-12-year-old/story-e6frfkvr-1226209499522

  -  Former MP guilty of having sex with 12-year-old
  -  Judge found medication triggered hypersexual desire

TERRY Martin showed no sign of emotion and refused all requests for comment as he walked free from the Supreme Court in Hobart this afternoon after he was found guilty of having sex with a 12-year-old girl.

In a surprise move Justice David Porter chose not to jail the former MP and long-serving Glenorchy mayor instead handing him a 10-month suspended sentence back-dated to November 22 when he was taken into custody.

Martin was last week found guilty of having underage sex - with a 12-year-old girl prostituted by her mother and mother's friend - in September, 2009.

He pleaded not guilty and argued from the start he believed the girl was 18.

He became involved with her after responding to an ad for her services in the newspaper listing her as "Angela, 18, new in town".

But the jury found he ought to have known she was underage after the nine women and three men deliberated for several hours on Monday last week.

In light of the massive amount of publicity surrounding the case Justice Porter chose to give extensive reasons for his decision not to jail Martin - who was found guilty of one count of sex with a young person under 17 and one of producing child exploitation material.

He was acquitted of a third charge of indecent assault after the jury was unable to reach a verdict and the Crown elected not to pursue that matter any further.

Justice Porter accepted expert opinions backing up Martin's assertion the medication he was prescribed for his Parkinson's Disease had caused him to suffer from hypersexuality at the time of his offending.

The judge said he accepted the submission that if Martin had not been taking those drugs he would not have become "obsessed with sex'' and hooked on prostitutes - and would therefore not have come into contact with the 12-year-old.

[alaric89]

Were the girls "pimps" arrested and convicted?
I believe being fooled by a mature looking girl can be a good excuse to justify child molestation charges.
What was his excuse for solicitation? I don't believe that is legal in most places.
How does the worst scum get in power? Imagine what we are not catching. A politician has to almost blatantly do a crime in a pink tutu on a times square live feed just to get arrested, and even then he will probably be reelected after the charges are dropped.