Teen sex conviction in Australia for Mi-Sex manager

August 19, 2008 Robert Jackson Yates, the former manager of the New Zealand and Australian New Wave band Mi-Sex, has been sentenced to a four-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to having sex with a minor.

The Victorian County Court heard that Yates, 62, met the girl through a website named Adult Friend Finder, where she claimed on her profile to be 18 years of age. The girl later revealed to Yates, through email exchanges with him, that her true age was 15. Yates flew to Melbourne, Victoria, where he met the girl and had sex with her in a motel. The following day, the girl told her mother, who then contacted police.

Judge Meryl Sexton said that Yates must have known the girl was underage, and that the blame lay solely on his shoulders. "It's quite unbelievable that a man of 61 knowingly and deliberately set out to have sex with a female under 16," she said.

Yates pleaded guilty to two counts each of committing indecent acts with a child under 16 and of sexual penetration of a child under 16, and was sentenced to a four-year prison term, with a minimum of two years in prison before he is eligible for parole. He will also be placed on a registered sex offenders list for 15 years.

The band Mi-Sex was popular in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s, most notably for their number one hit single "Computer Games".