A prominent entertainer who admitted performing an indecent act towards a teenage girl was today discharged without conviction.
He was also given permanent name suppression.
The man had pleaded guilty to one count of performing an indecent act with intent to insult during an early morning incident in Wellington in March.
Judge Eddie Paul, passing sentence in Auckland District Court, said the charge was not a trivial one and carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
However, he said the detrimental consequences of a conviction in this case would result in an extreme situation out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending, which he rated as moderate to low.
A conviction would damage the man's career and harm his international prospects by restricting his ability to travel overseas, especially at short notice.
Judge Paul also said allowing the man's identity to be made public would defeat the discharge he had granted.
He made an order for the entertainer to pay the victim $5000 in emotional harm reparations.
The court had previously been told the man had made an offer of that amount to her and she had accepted.
Dressed in an open-necked black shirt and black trousers, the man showed little emotion during his 30-minute appearance, although he visibly relaxed when the judge's intentions became clear.
He left the court house to a waiting car without making any comment.
Judge Paul, in summing up the facts, said the defendant, who had been drinking, was in Courtenay Place about 3.30am on March 5 when two females recognised him.
They approached him and asked to kiss him on the cheek.
He let them do that and then told them to "kiss my balls", the judge said.
The two females ignored the comment, but they walked hand in hand with the man to an alleyway, where he undid his trousers, pulled out his penis and repeated the request.
The two females, who were embarrassed, said nothing.
At this point, the complainant, who was an associate of the two females, entered the alley way from behind the man, unaware that he had exposed himself.
He grabbed her by the head, which he pulled to his crotch and she felt his penis touch her left check.
She objected, pulled away and heard the man laughing as she left.
In deciding on the sentence, Judge Paul said he took into account the man's early guilty plea, the remorse was shown in letters he wrote to the victim and his lack of previous convictions.
The judge said the offence had appeared to be spontaneous rather than premeditated, and occurred after the defendant had been approached by the victim's friends.
The behaviour had also seemed to be out of character for the man.
The passing of sentence this afternoon came after the judge had heard submissions last week, when defence counsel Ron Mansfield sought a discharge without conviction and permanent name suppression.
Police opposed a discharge without conviction, while various media organisations argued against permanent name suppression.
