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Australian track world champion admits underage sex charges

Mark Jamieson fails to prevent details being made public as he fights separate charge

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.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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2 comments

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Tony Farrelly | 14 years ago
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A former world champion being arrested for anything is an interesting story in my book, but it doesn't mean we're going to start covering the minutiae of the pro and elite scene in the way that Cyclingnews do.

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lapize | 14 years ago
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Is this type of story appropriate for this website?

I quite like road.cc - it seems to be pitched at "real" bike riders (rather than at "pretend" racers). I'm not sure therefore why we would want to read a non-cycling story about a relatively obscure professional cyclist.

This is the kinda thing I normally skip over on cyclingnews.

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