Law lets pedophiles off the hook in Australian State of New South Wales

Hundreds of paedophiles could be removed from the state's child protection register after a successful court bid by a sex offender. The court case has exposed a legal loophole in the legislation that tracks convicted paedophiles. Police have so far contacted 26 men who received a suspended prison sentence or good behaviour bond for child sex offences, informing them their names have now been scratched from the register.

It follows a successful Supreme Court challenge by Wollongong man Ajan Khanna, 33, who was convicted of committing an indecent act on a six-year-old girl while staying with her family during a "spiritual education" conference in Melbourne. Khanna received a 12-month suspended jail sentence and fought attempts by NSW Police to place him on the paedophile database.

Justice Paul Brereton agreed with him, ruling the law required only those offenders who had been given a "supervised" sentence be placed on the register. Now Khanna's name, and those of up to 200 other convicted paedophiles, will be removed. Outraged victims groups said the ruling would give predators the opportunity to apply for jobs with children because their whereabouts will no longer be tracked.

Latest police figures show as at August 31 last year there were 2308 child sex offenders on the register. Since 2001, 1117 people have been convicted of child sex offences, with approximately 200 given suspended sentences or unsupervised good behaviour bonds.

Police Minister David Campbell last night described the court ruling as setting "an awful precedent" and vowed to close the loophole by introducing fresh legislation next week. "It is the strongly held belief of this Government that anyone convicted of a registrable offence should be on that register regardless of what any judge thinks," he said.

At a hearing earlier this year, Justice Brereton said Khanna had been convicted of what would be a "class 2" offence in NSW – punishable by a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more. Because his sentence was suspended it never "took effect", so he was never under the supervision required by law for his name to be placed on the register.

Mr Campbell said he would ensure the names of paedophiles already removed from the register would be reinstated. "NSW has the toughest and longest-standing register in the country and the highest rate of compliance," he said. "This case let 32 people off the . . . register on a legal technicality." He said he would urgently introduce legislation next week to put these child sex offenders back on the register "where they belong." He said police had acted on advice from the Crown Solicitor when they advised the 32 men they would be removed from the register.

BraveHearts executive director and child protection campaigner Hetty Johnston said the community would view the judge's decision as completely unacceptable. Ms Johnston said a suspended jail term was not a light sentence. "There is no sexual offence against a child which is insignificant," she said.

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