A former Australian politician has pleaded not guilty to having sex with a 12-year-old girl prostituted by her own mother.
Terry Martin, an ex-politician in Tasmania, pleaded not guilty to three charges relating to an alleged incident from September, 2009, The Mercury reported.
Martin is alleged to have met the child at his home and is charged with having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 17.
He's also charged with indecent assault of a person under 17, and one charge of producing child exploitation material.
Martin is alleged to have been a client of the girl's mother and Gary Devine - who are both serving time for prostituting her.
Martin must have known the girl he was paying for sex was under-age but he "just couldn't help himself", prosecutor Daryl Coates said, The Mercury reported.
The ex-MLC and Glenorchy mayor is on trial in the Supreme Court in Hobart after pleading not guilty to indecent assault, unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 17, and producing child exploitation material.
In day one of the expected three-day trial, the court heard a multitude of sensational allegations and evidence including the testimony of the then-12-year-old Glenorchy girl prostituted by her mother and her mother's friend Gary John Devine in 2009.
Both the girl's mother and Devine are now serving sentences for their crimes.
The court heard that Mr Martin, 54, took numerous photos of the girl after Devine and the pimp's friend allegedly dropped her off at Mr Martin's Claremont home in September, 2009.
The girl, now 15, told the court a "short, fat man with a white beard and grey hair" answered the door and paid "$600 or $700" for two hours with her.
Mr Martin allegedly had a spa bath with the child then performed oral sex on her, and she allegedly reciprocated while he photographed the sex act.
Those photos were later discovered by police on a hard drive in Mr Martin's study, along with hundreds of images of young people, some as young as 12, naked and engaged in sex acts.
It was alleged Mr Martin had organised the images into slideshow clips with titles such as "Beach" and "Crows", each with their own soundtrack.
The court was told the soundtracks included such songs as Helter Skelter by The Beatles, Burn by Tina Arena and Forever Young by Bob Dylan .
