No jail for referee sex offender

A BASKETBALL referee who was found guilty of sex crimes against a 14- year- old boy has had his wholly suspended sentence upheld.

Joel Conn was given a 15month suspended jail term in December last year after Townsville District Court convicted him of eight offences.

Conn met the victim through basketball in 1999.

The offences happened in 2002 when he was 18 and the boy was a 14- year- old referee.

In a Court of Appeal judgment published last week, Justice Walter Sofronoff said the Attorney- General had appealed the sentence.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, for the Attorney- General, argued there were no “exceptional circum- stances” that meant Conn should serve no time in jail.

Justice Sofronoff said there were aggravating factors, including an element of grooming and manipulation.

“On the one hand, the respondent was guilty of taking advantage of and breaching the trust that existed by reason of his superior supervisory position over the complainant,” he said.

“He used money and alcohol to inveigle the complainant, a 14- year- old boy, to engage in the sexual acts in the first place.

“The last count of which he was convicted involved procuring two underage boys to engage in sexual acts.”

The justice said there were also mitigating factors – Conn had the “honest and reasonable belief that the complain- ant was a consenting party, notwithstanding his age”.

“Their respective ages were close and the conduct was that of teenagers experimenting with sex,” he said.

“The character evidence that was adduced on his behalf shows that he is now a different man. He is married with children.”

Justice Sofronoff said sentencing judge had dressed those issues. He missed the appeal.

“In my respectful opinion it cannot be said that his honour failed to take into account the appropriate principles or that he made an error in the application of any relevant principle or that he made any error of fact,” he said. Conn’s lawyers appealed the conviction, but that was also dismissed by the Court of Appeal. the addis-