Freya Newman avoids conviction for leaking Frances Abbott scholarship details "I accept that Ms Newman was motivated by a sense of injustice rather than a desire for personal notoriety, greed or any desire to embarrass the student," Ms O'Sullivan said. "Whilst this may explain what lead up to her offending behaviour, it does not excuse her conduct," she said. Magistrate O'Sullivan found that Ms Newman was a person of good character who was involved in a number of charitable pursuits, and that she had suffered as a result of the very wide publicity given to the case, including having a negative impact on her mental health. The court also heard that Ms Newman was told by more senior staff where the evidence of the private scholarship could be located in the Whitehouse computer system and how to obtain it. "Those staff members encouraged Ms Newman to use another staff member's log in details, without her permission, to access information confirming that [Francis Abbott] had been awarded a private scholarship," Ms O'Sullivan said. Magistrate O'Sullivan said that, while accessing private information was a significant concern in the community, Ms Newman's crime was less serious than many other instances. She did not accept the prosecution argument that Ms Newman needed to be convicted so that others would be deterred from committing similar crimes. Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne weighed in following the sentence, declaring on Twitter that "I'm not convinced the sentence in the Freya Newman case sends a clear message that breaching another's privacy is wrong." When asked about the appropriateness of this comment, a spokesman for the minister said "the Minister's comment is self-explanatory and represents his personal view that he is entirely within his rights to express."