Pastor John McMartin, formerly pastor of Inspire Church, a large Pentecostal church in Liverpool, Sydney, has had his conviction for assault with an act of indecency set aside. The conviction and penalty of an intensive corrections order with 120 hours of community service were set aside in the District Court today.
At the earlier trial held in the Liverpool and Campbelltown Local Courts, police tendered evidence about an event in 2013 when McMartin invited his 19-year-old personal assistant to his home in Pleasure Point, because he was too drunk to pick up his wife from the airport. The Police evidence before the court was that McMartin put his hands down the young woman’s pants and squeezed her breasts, kissing her neck and rubbing her stomach and leg.
A defence submission was that Pastor McMartin admitted to giving the complainant an “inappropriate” massage on a night he was meant to pick his wife up from the airport. But he had been drinking too much and “opportunistically” interacted with a young woman he asked over to his house to pick up his wife. But the local court did not accept a defence submission that there was reasonable doubt that “he touched her in the places alleged.”
A news.com.au account of the appeal hearing reported that defence barrister “Mr Strickland argued that the woman’s version of events had changed over several statements made over seven years. He told the court that her statement to police omitted key allegations, including that McMartin rubbed her genitals and squeezed her breasts.
“However, the Crown prosecution argue[d] that any inconsistencies are due to the length of time between her various statements and testimony.”