A Pentecostal church founder was treated unfairly and should have his conviction for indecently assaulting a teenage woman at his home quashed, his barrister says.
Inspire Church founder John McMartin, 68, was found guilty of indecent assault and convicted in March over an incident at his southwestern Sydney home involving a then-19-year-old woman in January 2013.
The magistrate who sentenced and convicted McMartin to community service on an intensive corrections order made findings outside the evidence without notifying his lawyers first, McMartin’s barrister Philip Strickland SC told the NSW District Court on Monday.
The findings included adverse descriptions of McMartin’s appearance in court and that he had interrupted his own barrister while giving evidence.
“There are multiple reasons witnesses may overspeak and do overspeak frequently,” Mr Strickland said.
It was not open to find McMartin had minimised his own conduct and the sentencing magistrate had “reasoned backwards” to make spurious findings in relation to McMartin’s credibility, Mr Strickland said.
The defence also couldn’t explore "material differences" between a written complaint to the Pentecostal church network Australian Christian Churches in the days following the incident, later retracted, and complaints to police years later.
The differences included crucial elements of the case, with the later statement to police omitting the allegation McMartin had rubbed her genitals and squeezed her breast.
“The devil is in the details,” Mr Strickland said.
The magistrate should have directed themselves better about relying on a hearsay statement not given under oath, which they either didn’t do properly or never did, Mr Strickland said.
The Crown contends McMartin received the procedural fairness he was entitled to.
McMartin’s appeal against his conviction returns to court on Tuesday.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
