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A WELL-KNOWN Australian actress, who starred in the hit television show ‘Prisoner: Cell Block H’ has been found guilty of child sex offences but will not go to jail.
Maggie Kirkpatrick, 74, had denied two charges of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency with a person under 16. The offences were committed over 30 years ago in 1984.
In a court hearing yesterday, Magistrate Peter Mealy said her accuser was credible.
“I am satisfied that she is a witness of truth,” he said.
Today, Kirkpatrick was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and was told that she will be placed sex offenders’ register for eight years.
She also filed an appeal against her conviction according to ABC News.
Kirkpatrick’s conviction on all three counts just months after another popular 1980s Australian actor, Robert Hughes, was jailed for at least six years for sexually and indecently assaulting young girls between 1985 and 1990.
The court heard that Kirkpatrick, who has appeared in numerous other Australian television shows, assaulted the 14-year-old girl at her home in 1984 after a woman who worked with the actress arranged a meeting with the young fan.
The teenager was a patient at a psychiatric hospital at the time.
The victim, who cannot be named, only reported the offence to police in 2013, previously thinking that no one would believe her, the Melbourne Age said.
Kirkpatrick played a formidable prison warder known as “The Freak” in the 1980s soap opera.
Australia is currently holding a wide-ranging government-backed inquiry into child sex abuse and has so far heard harrowing evidence of assaults involving places of worship, orphanages, community groups and schools.
In June, the inquiry announced plans to put the spotlight on the entertainment industry, urging anyone who has suffered abuse to come forward. However, Kirkpatrick’s case was not linked to this inquiry.
It follows revelations of abuse by a number of high-profile entertainers across the world, including Australian Rolf Harris who is in jail in Britain for a string of sex assaults against girls.
© – AFP 2015 with reporting by Rónán Duffy
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So you sexually assault a 14 year old – a patient at a psychiatric hospital at the time, and walk away with a 2 weeks community service?
Makes our judges look like Hitler!
Or, to put it another way, a single individual with a psychiatric history makes an uncorroborated accusation about an event that took place over 30 years ago.
That’s all it takes folks to ruin your good name.
*Nice*
I couldn’t find a female sex offender anywhere when I was 16.
Hilarious! What a lucky victim, eh?
Ha. But you don’t want her to be roughing you up.
that’s not ok to say just because your a man…idiot
It’s that kind of stupid comment which leads to female paedos getting away with it
What an idiotic comment. What’s you’re problem then.
Oh Diane, where were you when I was 16?
And remember, this was a female victim as well, so it is highly unlikely that she enjoyed being assaulted
You weren’t pretty enough.
Echos of the South Park episode where Ike is being abused by his teacher and all the police keep saying “niiice” instead of treating it like the heinous crime that it is.
We all know that as teenagers we may have been sex obsessed, but having someone tale advantage of you never works out for the best. Claiming that you wanted to be abused is not only really quite insensitive to those who were, it makes you look a little depraved to be honest.
Absolutely right. Was just trying to be jovial but people took it too personal. I agree with you completely and I don’t condone underage sex. It is damaging. I was jovial similar to south Park but not my true nature (i hope). I may not have been sensitive to those abused, as you say. I like people like you who can state their point without emotion.
Well I wasn’t sure which angle you were coming from so I felt it safer to hedge my bets.. I’m as prone to fly off the handle as anyone else!
Why are women sexy offenders not dealt with the same as men ??? Genuine question ??
Because the penis is widely seen as the only, and the worst form of sexual abuse. When in fact, there is no statistical difference between outcomes for those abused by men or women. They fare just as poorly.
In fact the worst outcomes of all are for children sexually abused by their own mothers.
Didn’t that guy who admitted raping his girlfriend in her sleep get a suspended sentence? Sexual assault cases are never dealt with seriously enough.
Why isn’t she in jail ? It doesn’t matter how o,d she is or how long ago the assault took place ! Britain are hailing their sex offender celebs wholesale ! Australia needs to take note ! Where is the justice for the victim here ?
because she is female Catherine. not seen as a true offender in the eyes of the courts
Arthur I’m so not so sure about that. I believe that it used to be that way but Myra Hindley changed opinions about that I’m afraid . This is more to do with her age I think. Britain is jailing very old celebs and rightly so. Jail the bloodily lot of them . It’s just unacceptable in so called civilised society .
its gone on a lot longer after Myra Hindley. that was in the 60′s. there is still high fives to the male victims despite what he has been through and the woman gets a slap on the wrist. its a horrible accepted practice in society that still lingers. its another double standard that holds us all back. it seems to be changing slightly but there is a long way to go.
Agreed Catherine, it’s disgraceful that the woman isn’t doing time. The harm she inflicted upon her victim is no less than the harm any other victim experienced. The fact that she’s a woman shouldn’t be relevant to the crime – she sexually abused a child. That is the only thing that matters in this case.
it shouldnt be relevant Shanti but it was. even though she abused a child she is looked on differently than a man in this circumstance. she has has been let off with a horrible crime :(
And that is disgusting. It just goes to show how we don’t take sexual crimes seriously enough. The fact that it was committed by a woman doesn’t detract from the way it would have made her victim feel. Which should have been what determined her sentence, not the gender of her attacker.
Loved watching this show when I was a young lad back in the eighties ..
She was a horrible character on the show and a despicable piece of sh.it off it ..
This is Vinegar Tits isn’t it?
No, i think Vera was vinegar tits.
Sentencing was way too small. Only 8 years on a register? I thought that was for life. The fact that the women only came forward in 2013 shows the effect it had has followed her since the mid 80′s. I wonder what the statute of limitations in Australia are for this type of crime. Poor girl, poor women now though. She’s grown up with this. She was a fan of “the freak”. Feel terrible for her.
A female sex offender?
How can this be?
It can be. There’s very little research on female sex offenders. No-one is aware of the scope of the problem. And victims would definitely be far slower to come forward as they know they’d have a far more difficult battle.
The headlines seems like something bout of the Sun. Standards?
And IMO, anyone that stands by and knows their own child is being abused, or suspects it and does nothing, or worse, enables it through indifference or incompetence, should have their very own list of charges. It’s scandalous that so many get away with allowing their own kids or siblings be systematically abused. Taking the kids off them is not enough. They need to lose their liberty, and preferably their homes too.
Are you being serious? Of course women are sex offenders, probably a lot more than is realised.
Yes of course there are female sex offenders and pedophiles . There was a ring if them found in Britain a few years back . All performing sex acts on children and sending the pictures and videos to a guy their ” boyfriend “. It happened in crèches . So yes women can and are sex offenders. This woman’s age or celeb status shouldn’t keep her out of jail ! Simple as that
It is more common than people expect as there are plenty of women pedos about and women rapists…
Nice.
I think everyone takes the possibility of female sex offenders very seriously nowadays. There have been too many high profile offenders like Rose West and Myra Hindley. I admit they were serial murderers also but it certainly blew the myth that women don’t commit sex offences out of the water. There have been women convicted for just sex offences too. They should be tested on a par with any other sex offender . This woman’s age I think helped her escape prison but it shouldn’t be a get out of jail free for any criminal. Or their celebrity or cult status
Yes Paul. There was also that other woman in the US during the week, the teacher getting it on with her student (which, in a strange twist of synchronicity the episode where she was on Dr Phil trying to defend herself was aired on RTE the day she was convicted) it does happen. Anyone trying to demy that it does is a fool.
Did you notice that it was a same sex assault Shanti?
And? It’s a sexual assault, that’s all that matters.
That should be sex not “sexy” sorry !!!
vinegar tits was a bad yoke.
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