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HE former MP guilty of sex offences with a 12-year-old girl has walked free from court with a suspended sentence, provoking outrage from anti-abuse campaigners and some of the girls' relatives.
Former Tasmanian upper house MP Terence Lewis Martin had been in custody since being found guilty last week of unlawful sexual intercourse with a young person and of producing child exploitation material.
In the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday, judge David Porter handed down a 10-month prison sentence, with the balance suspended provided the 54-year-old remains of good behaviour for two years.
Outside court, Martin was abused and challenged by a group that included relatives of the girl.
Justice Porter said a "dominant factor" in his sentencing of Martin was that the former MP had been suffering hyper-sexuality caused by medication for Parkinson's disease. He had concluded there was a "direct causal link" between this dopamine agonist medication and Martin's offences.
The judge said the condition caused by the medication had impaired Martin's ability to make moral judgments and therefore "his moral culpability is reduced".
"But for the medication, he would not be facing sentencing for this crime," Justice Porter said.
Martin, a Labor-turned-independent MP and a former mayor of Glenorchy, in Hobart's north, had oral sex with the girl and took naked photographs of her in September 2009.
Martin had pleaded not guilty and insisted he believed the girl was 18. When first confronted by police, he expressed shock that she was 12 and "disgust" at having engaged in sex acts with a child.
Prosecutor Daryl Coates told the court that a police search of Martin's home and computer equipment had found hundreds of images of children as young as eight involved in sexual activities or poses.
After the sentence was handed down, a local campaigner against child abuse, Megan Harris, attacked it as grossly out of step with community expectations.
Mrs Harris told The Australian hyper-sexuality was no excuse for having sex with a child, particularly given that, in Justice Porter's words, Martin "ought to have known" the girl was under 18.
"This is disappointing the courts are not giving large enough sentences to people who abuse children," Mrs Harris said.
"These are our kids -- if we can't protect them, then who is going to?"
A woman who did not want to be named, but who said she was a relative of the girl, expressed "disappointment" at the sentence.
"There would be more deterrent if the courts gave larger sentences in sexual abuse cases," she said.
Martin, who was bailed to appear in court on January 30 to face a charge of possessing child pornography, refused to comment as he walked quickly from the court, free after eight nights in jail.
Martin was the only man charged among more than 100 men who had sex with the girl, prostituted by her mother and a family acquaintance, both of whom are serving 10-year jail terms for their crimes.
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Former Tasmanian upper house MP Terence Lewis Martin had been in custody since being found guilty last week of unlawful sexual intercourse with a young person and of producing child exploitation material.
In the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday, judge David Porter handed down a 10-month prison sentence, with the balance suspended provided the 54-year-old remains of good behaviour for two years.
Outside court, Martin was abused and challenged by a group that included relatives of the girl.
Justice Porter said a "dominant factor" in his sentencing of Martin was that the former MP had been suffering hyper-sexuality caused by medication for Parkinson's disease. He had concluded there was a "direct causal link" between this dopamine agonist medication and Martin's offences.
The judge said the condition caused by the medication had impaired Martin's ability to make moral judgments and therefore "his moral culpability is reduced".
"But for the medication, he would not be facing sentencing for this crime," Justice Porter said.
Martin, a Labor-turned-independent MP and a former mayor of Glenorchy, in Hobart's north, had oral sex with the girl and took naked photographs of her in September 2009.
Martin had pleaded not guilty and insisted he believed the girl was 18. When first confronted by police, he expressed shock that she was 12 and "disgust" at having engaged in sex acts with a child.
Prosecutor Daryl Coates told the court that a police search of Martin's home and computer equipment had found hundreds of images of children as young as eight involved in sexual activities or poses.
After the sentence was handed down, a local campaigner against child abuse, Megan Harris, attacked it as grossly out of step with community expectations.
Mrs Harris told The Australian hyper-sexuality was no excuse for having sex with a child, particularly given that, in Justice Porter's words, Martin "ought to have known" the girl was under 18.
"This is disappointing the courts are not giving large enough sentences to people who abuse children," Mrs Harris said.
"These are our kids -- if we can't protect them, then who is going to?"
A woman who did not want to be named, but who said she was a relative of the girl, expressed "disappointment" at the sentence.
"There would be more deterrent if the courts gave larger sentences in sexual abuse cases," she said.
Martin, who was bailed to appear in court on January 30 to face a charge of possessing child pornography, refused to comment as he walked quickly from the court, free after eight nights in jail.
Martin was the only man charged among more than 100 men who had sex with the girl, prostituted by her mother and a family acquaintance, both of whom are serving 10-year jail terms for their crimes.
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