Australian Cricketer Jailed: Former Hobart Hurricanes player Aaron William Summers has been sentenced in Tasmania after pleading guilty to multiple offences. Summers, 30, admitted to two counts of penetrative sexual abuse of a minor and one count of grooming in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in June. He had previously denied the allegations before changing his plea. The court sentenced Summers to two-and-a-half years in prison on Wednesday, with the sentence suspended after he serves 10 months.
According to ABC News, Justice Helen Wood told the court that Summers first met the victim at a Hobart Hurricanes cricket match in 2017.
The girl was 15 when she attended another match the following month and spoke with Summers, who was 21 at the time.
The case relates to offences that subsequently came before the Tasmanian Supreme Court. Summers ultimately entered guilty pleas to the three charges in June.
As per ABC News, Summers pleaded guilty in the Northern Territory in November 2021 to charges including possessing and transmitting child abuse material.
He also admitted to transmitting communications with a person under 16 with the intention of procuring them to engage in or produce sexual activity.
Summers was sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison for those offences.
He was arrested on the day he was released from custody and extradited to Tasmania, where he faced the separate charges that have now resulted in another prison sentence.
Summers had previously maintained his innocence in the Tasmanian proceedings before pleading guilty in June to the two sexual abuse offences.
The latest sentence brings the separate Tasmanian proceedings to a conclusion, with Summers expected to remain in custody until April next year under the terms of the sentence handed down by the court.
