Christopher Matthew Henaghan

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Christopher Matthew Henaghan, an admitted legal practitioner, was convicted of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child aged 9-12 and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment suspended after 20 months. He admitted the conduct amounted to professional misconduct and accepted he was not fit to remain on the roll. QCAT found professional misconduct, recommended removal from the roll under s 456(3)(a), and ordered him to pay the applicant's costs. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• Personal probity and fitness to practise

Aggravating factors:

• Serious and sustained criminal offending against a child
• Breach of trust of the complainant and her family (respondent was related to the complainant)
• Conduct more serious and sustained than comparable cases

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted and accepted the conduct and characterisation as professional misconduct
• Accepted he should be removed from the roll
• Served his term of imprisonment