Scetrine appeal is dismissed

By David Polkinghorne
Updated November 2 2012 - 2:38pm, first published August 11 2010 - 3:06pm

CONVICTED child molester William Alexander Scetrine has had an appeal dismissed by the Victorian Court of Appeal.On May 15, 2008, Scetrine was found guilty of 18 counts of committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 and six counts of taking part in an act of sexual penetration with a child under 16.At the time, Judge Graeme Crossley described Scetrine's behaviour as "predatory" and said there was "little" chance of rehabilitation.The former Ballarat radio identity was jailed for six years with a minimum non-parole period of four years and was placed on the sex offenders register for life.An appeal was lodged against the conviction on the grounds of jury bias, a lack of jury directions given by the judge and and inconsistent verdict between two of the charges.All grounds for appeal were dismissed by Justices Geoffrey Nettle, Robert Redlich and David Beach at a hearing last week.One of the jurors said he realised, during the course of the trial, that he was a member of the same golf club as Scetrine and had served him in the pro-shop.Scetrine claimed the failure of Judge Crossley to discharge that particular juror resulted in a miscarriage of justice and the convictions should be set aside.But the Court of Appeal judges rejected this, stating: "Given the juror's very limited degree of acquaintance with the complainant, and his expressed disinterest in the outcome of the case, we see no reason to suppose that a fair-minded, informed member of the public would have any doubt that the juror would fairly and impartially discharge his duty as judge of the facts." Scetrine's offences were committed between August 26, 2005, and May 30, 2006.He also had prior convictions for possessing child pornography, for which he received a fine and a suspended sentence in 2002.

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