Milne changes plea to guilty!

[1061]

To indecent assault the rapes charges have been dropped.

http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/breaking-news-blog/milne-pleads-guilty-to-indecent-assault/20141106-3jp9i.html

[Killbot]

Will Mick get a refund?

[think positive]

That's what I was thinking.

That poor girl. He's scum. And so is whoever covered it up. That's a crime almost as big, made the girl suffer much longer and also be doubted. But hey, the powers that be are happy, he got to play out his footy career and the AFL didn't cop the scandal. And now the st Kilda curse is gone

[Proud Pies]

[1061]

I hope being placed on the Sex Offenders Registry is mandatory and cannot be part of a deal.

[ronrat]

I am wondering whether perverting the course of justice charges will follow. I mean that is what led to this skunk not being charged in the first place and if not for the persistence of this woman they all would have got away with it. No jail time sends a poor message and that Milne is unemployed (he is getting paid to play footy) is irrelevant. He had 10 years or more to plan for the future. He remains a stain on society with no redeeming features. His wife is either a bimbo or or an idiot or both.

[Raw Hammer]

...and this is why that ball in 2010 decided to bounce the other way.

[Greening gold]

[think positive]

Totally agree, be saying for years they are doomed until he's gone!

[stoliboy]

Stephen Milne, former St Kilda footballer, fined but escapes conviction over indecent assault
By Peta Carlyon
Tue 18 Nov 2014, 11:23am
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-18/stephen-milne-fined-without-conviction-over-indecent-assault/5898782

Former AFL player Stephen Milne has avoided a conviction for indecently assaulting a 19-year-old woman more than a decade ago.

Milne pleaded guilty earlier this month to a single charge of indecent assault, over an incident at the home of former St Kilda team-mate Leigh Montagna in March 2004.

The 34-year-old had been facing a trial in the Victorian County Court on three charges of rape, but those charges were withdrawn earlier this month.

Judge Michael Bourke found Milne's offending was "out of character" and ordered him to pay a fine of $15,000.

Milne did not comment as he left court.

At his plea hearing, the court heard Milne and another woman, and Montagna and the victim, had consensual sex in separate rooms, before Milne and the other woman went to Montagna's room.

The two couples then engaged in more "sexual activity" before Milne attempted to have sex with the victim.

The court heard the woman could not see in the darkness and believed Milne was Montagna.

Milne's lawyer Phillip Dunn QC told the plea hearing his client thought the victim was aware of his identity.

"He was ... confident, given the circumstances, that she knew exactly who he was," Mr Dunn said.

But Mr Dunn acknowledged the victim had declined Milne's advances.

"I want to make it very clear... she said no," he said.

Past 10 years 'awful' for Milne's family

The court heard the last decade had been extremely stressful for 34-year-old Milne and his family.

Mr Dunn said his client's children, wife and parents were traumatised by him regularly being abused and branded a rapist in public.

The court heard Milne's mother had spent time in hospital for anxiety.

"She goes to the football to watch her son play football," Mr Dunn said.

"There's the crowd chanting rapist.

"Everything that happens to him ... when he gets called a rapist by Mick Malthouse ... the whole thing gets dragged up again."

"It's been an awful period of time. Just awful."

Milne retired from the St Kilda Football Club in August after more than 250 games.

He was supported at his plea hearing by St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt and former teammate Lenny Hayes.

The court heard the AFL had refused the former forward life membership, and Milne now struggled to find employment anywhere, not just in football circles.

[David]

[Pies4shaw]

Well, statistically speaking, yes. As it happens.

[Jezza]

He's very lucky to escape a conviction.

[1061]

[David]

"Consequences for actions" is a meaningless phrase in this context, young woman, because the consequences are entirely dependent on whatever the law happens to be. This is not cosmic karma we're discussing, but arbitrary legal punishment. In my view, a standard conviction and sentence would have been a sufficient consequence, but it's a moot point because he didn't even get that (whether he should have is another matter—I'm inclined to agree with Jezza, but would have to read the court transcript in closer detail to know for sure).

I strongly oppose a mandatory sex offenders register because it's a one size fits all solution to a broad variety of crimes, some of which are quite minor. If we have to have such a register at all, I would far prefer that it be applied at the discretion of judges, and only in instances where the defendant was seen to pose a serious ongoing threat to society.

I also don't know why we don't have such a scheme for habitual violent offenders. This "special category" of sexual offences has always seemed bizarre to me.

In Milne's case, we're talking about an isolated crime that was committed over a decade ago. The court decided that it was "out of character". That seems to suggest to me that he isn't a dangerous habitual sexual predator, so—even if he had been convicted—putting him on the register would have been inappropriate, redundant and a waste of taxpayers' money. It might satisfy your sense of justice, but that's not its purpose. At least, it's not supposed to be.