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US woman convicted of sex with Australian teenager
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-16 15:02

MELBOURNE, Australia -- A married American woman who had an affair with a 15-year-old boy she met online and flew to join in Australia was convicted Tuesday of sex with a minor, but freed from jail and told she could return home.

Barbara Case, 37, from Lyndhurst, Virginia, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and was sentenced to 16 months in jail.

But Judge Tim Wood suspended her sentence for two years, saying that if she committed another offense within that time she would have to serve her sentence. He said he thought Case was unlikely to re-offend.

"You understand your conduct was inexcusable and morally wrong," he told her in court.

Wood also placed Case on the state's sex offenders' register and told her she should return to her family in the United States.

"Any further incarceration would impact on you much more severely than an offender living in Australia because your family are in the United States," Wood said. "No useful purpose is served by delaying your return."

Case, who is married and has three children, flew to Australia in May to be with a boy she had met through the online game "Runescape." They spent 10 days together in a campsite cabin before Case was arrested May 27 after the boy's parents contacted police.

Case's lawyer, Megan Aumair, told reporters that Case was "incredibly relieved."

"She wants to put it all behind her now," the lawyer said.

Aumair told the court she would be contacting the U.S. Embassy to arrange Case's return home.