Australian track world champion admits underage sex charges

Mark Jamieson, a member of Australia’s World Championship winning team pursuit squad in Bordeaux in 2006, has admitted four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and one charge of sexual assault.

The 25-year-old from Tasmania, who was also a member of the Australian team at the Beijing Olympics, appeared before the South Australian District Court earlier today, where he denied one further charge of gross indecency.

The charges relate to incidents that allegedly took place in Adelaide between November 2008 and January 2009, with the four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse involving a girl aged 15 at the time. The two other charges relate to a second girl aged below 16 at the time of the incidents.

The case has been adjourned until March while the Crown considers whether to prosecute the gross indecency charge.

Jamieson, a former World Junior Individual Pursuit Champion, surprisingly withdrew from the Australian cycling team last February due to personal reasons after being selected for the World Track Championships.

The cyclist will not have to attend court next month, but his lawyer has been unsuccessful in an attempt to have his client’s name withheld until that time, overturning a previous decision by Adelaide Magistrates Court.

Jamieson’s legal representatives had argued that a suppression order granted last month be allowed to remain in force, arguing that with the prospect of two separate trials taking place, publicity surrounding one might be prejudicial to his case in the other.

But according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald sourced to the Australian Associated Press, Judge Peter Herriman rejected that argument and determined that the suppression order be allowed to expire as originally intended.

Under section 57 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935, in South Australia “any person 17 years or older can have sexual relations with another person aged 17 years or more, if they each consent.”