Martin was given a two-year conditional discharge for having sex with a 12-year-old girl, whom he met when he was 18 through an Internet chatroom. From the evidence in Court, the judge said that he believed that the girl was a “willing participant” and that she had started the sexual activity. The judge told the young man that he trusted him to behave in future.
In parts of the press, the accused was labelled a paedophile, and protection groups complained that the sentence was far too light.