Magistrate faces jail
August 11, 2004
Adelaide magistrate Michael Frederick faces up to 15 years' jail after being convicted of having sex with an under-aged girl.
Frederick, 57, resigned immediately yesterday after a jury found him guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault.
His lawyer, Lindy Powell, said she would appeal, while prosecutor Adam Kimber said he would seek a jail term. Frederick, who denied the charges, is on bail.
The jury found Frederick had sex once with a girl in 1983 when she was 15 or 16. The relationship ended when they were caught by the girl's mother.
Frederick was forced to apologise last year for telling an alleged prostitute she was a druggie who would die in the gutter. "You sit at home watching Days of Our Lives, smoking your crack pipe and using needles and I'm sick of you sucking us dry. No one gives a shit, but you're going to kill that woman who is your mother, damn you to death," he said to her.
In 2001, Adelaide magistrate Peter Liddy was jailed for 25 years for child sex offences including violent attacks on boys under his charge at a surf lifesaving club.
- AAP