Australian media figure accused of sexual assault

[gwallan]

Never liked Hinch. He's a journalistic muck raker of high order.

Ailing Hinch vows he'll fight accuser
Mark Buttler and Matt Cunningham
01apr06

DERRYN Hinch - already battling serious illness - has vowed to fight all the way a woman who has accused him of sexual assaulting her.

The accuser is his one-time business partner, Mary-Ann Martinek, a former Australian Army major who was discharged from the military after being deemed psychologically unfit.

Hinch told his listerners yesterday he had a brief sexual encounter with the woman a year ago, but insisted it was consensual.

Ms Martinek said she had never had sexual intercouse with Hinch and found his blackmail allegation "abhorrent".

"My intentions have never been monetary payment for me not reporting the assault to police," she said.

Hinch said his conscience was clear.

"I hope I have built a reputation for honesty and integrity," he said on his Drive program on radio station 3AW.

"I have championed the causes of women and of children and I will not sit back and let my name and reputation be blackened by the vindictive and malicious lies of a woman who tried to blackmail me, to extort money from me.

"That's why I make one pledge. I will fight this foul and calculated campaign with every breath I take and every dollar I have, because nothing is worth more than your good name."

Ms Martinek claimed she was drummed out of the army because she had publicly complained there was institutional harassment and mistreatment of women in the Australian Defence Force.

Federal Court documents show that in 2004, she was ordered to pay $42,067 in legal costs after a subsequent court battle with the army.

Hinch and Ms Martinek later became partners in Slouch Hat Chocolates to raise money for the Returned Services League.

But their once strong relationship was to turn sour, culminating in the sexual assault allegations.

In other developments:

HINCH'S 3AW colleague Neil Mitchell revealed he advised Ms Martinek to contact the police after he heard her claims.

IT emerged she is an associate of Rolls Royce car dealer Robert Arthur McDermott who is on a four-year ban from managing a company.

Hinch said he found it unchivalrous to discuss his sex life publicly but his hand had been forced by the allegations of the woman he called Miss P.

"Here's the real story. We did go to bed together once at my apartment," he told listeners.

"Penetration did not occur. After the mutual brief encounter, the issue, the allegation of sexual misconduct was never raised. "Miss P did not go to a doctor, even though there is a medical centre across the street from my apartment.

"She did not go to the police, even though police HQ was only a few metres down the road from my place."

Hinch said for a year after the alleged assault, they had lunch together and after-work drinks.

He said "things started to get evasive" when their accountant asked her for cash flow statements.

Hinch said the sex assault allegation emerged later in a letter to the accountant saying it would be withdrawn in exchange for $50,000.

"I refused because to me it was a blatant case of blackmail, a blatant case of extortion. More than a month ago, we went to the police over the blackmail issue," he said.

Ms Martinek said the matter was in the hands of the police.

"The matter is in the hands of the police as I have the right to access a fair process that will look at all the facts and weigh the evidence," she said.Ms Martinek was interviewed by police at Flinders St police headquarters on Wednesday night.

Her lawyer, Wally Edwards, said he expected Hinch supporters would try to exploit her army psychological report.

Mr Edwards said the test results were more about the Australian Defence Force trying to silence critics than a genuine representation of his client's mental state.

"The military, being what it is, is a boy's club," he said.

Detectives from the sexual crimes squad are investigating the claims but Hinch said he had not spoken to them.

"I do not know exactly what I'm accused of," he said.

"It's tough. You're fighting shadows at times. I've got nothing to hide. I'm squeaky clean."

He said he could not speculate on whether he would be charged and what that might mean for his future at 3AW

Australian Securities and Investment Commission records show Ms Martinek is listed as a director of four companies from the same Richmond address as Mr McDermott's former Rolls Royce dealership.

In 2004, Mr McDermott was banned from managing a company for four years. It was later revealed he had managed to clear a $180,000 debt to the Australian Taxation Office by paying just $9234.

[Quentin0352]

Hmmm, drummed out of the Army on a psychological when she was caught telling BS lies about it being biased against her, a court agreed with the Army and now she suddenly claims this when she is in financial trouble. Seems we have a pattern of conduct that the courts should take in to account as well as the police just as they would if he had a history of sexual assault cases against him!

Oh, that is right, she can't have that brought up since she is female and we are not allowed to doubt them or look at their history, only that of evil men who represent the patriarchy.

[K9]

Shades of Bill O'Reilly and mutual masturbation!

[Sir Percy]

For our non-Oz readers and contributors, Hinch is know here as "The Human Headline". He gets into all sorts of high-profile escapades, 'outing' people with his catch-phrase "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME".  Not that I am judging him on that soley. But this woman is well known. TV programmes have featured her nuttiness.

So Hinch chooses to go into business with her (!!) and even into her bed (where he doesn't make love! Hell hath no fury etc...). A disaster made for headlines.

On a side note, one of Hinch's escapades was to 'out' the name of a priest while the man's trial was on, calling him a paedophile - on his radio programme - before evidence had been presented. Hinch was jailed for contempt of court and went willingly saying "I'll go to jail if I have to". Local comedians had a field day, paraphrasing him and caricaturing him with "Shame, shame, shame. I'll go to jail if I have to. I'll go to jail even if I don't have to!". Hahaha.

You just have to like Hinch. He's a wag.

[TheManOnTheStreet]

OK .. I know what a wanker is, but what the hell is a "wag"?

Al

[Sir Percy]

OK .. I know what a wanker is, but what the hell is a "wag"?

Sorry, a bit of a lad, a wide-boy, an "ijut" in the Irish sense, naughty, provocative.... oh, and a wanker too.

[TheManOnTheStreet]

Ah...

:-)