A former merchandise manager for Byron Bay metalcore band Parkway Drive has avoided jail after pleading guilty to having sexual intercourse with a minor, in a case finalised in Byron Bay Local Court on Thursday.

Jed Daniel Gordon, 45, of Byron Bay, was given a three-year community corrections order and 300 hours of community service.

He also received a two-year apprehended domestic violence order and was placed on the child protection register.

Gordon pleaded guilty in March to having sexual intercourse with a person aged 14 or over and under 16.

The offence carries a maximum penalty in NSW of 10 years’ imprisonment, or 12 years in circumstances of aggravation.

The charge related to incidents between November 1, 2002 and July 11, 2003, when the girl was 15 and Gordon was in his early 20s.

The ABC reported the woman told the court in a victim impact statement that the “sexual and emotional abuse that he subjected me to” had affected her ability to “navigate romantic, platonic, family and professional relationships”.

She also said she had experienced “re-victimisation in emotionally abusive relationships, domestic violence or sexual harassment, assault and rape multiple times”.

Parkway Drive connection

Parkway Drive have a huge international following and are one of the Northern River’s most successful heavy music exports.

Gordon is the brother of Parkway Drive drummer Ben Gordon.

He had toured regularly with the band and had once been described as its sixth member.

After Gordon’s guilty plea in March, Parkway Drive issued a statement and said his behaviour was “appalling and we condemn it”.

The band said the offending “happened before we were a band”, but acknowledged it still “bear moral responsibility for contracting him from 2003, on and off over the years”.

Parkway Drive later said the matter was “heartbreaking on a very human scale” after sacking Gordon.

Still, in a scene as tight-knit and community-driven as Australian heavy music, the fallout surrounding someone so closely connected to Parkway Drive was always going to resonate far beyond a courtroom.