A relationship and family counsellor has branded a judge's ruling on an underage sex case "appalling".

Five young Opotiki men who pleaded guilty to sexual contact with underage girls have been discharged without conviction.

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Director of Relationship Matters, Steve Taylor, said Judge Louis Bidois believes the acts were "human nature", which gives licence to men to act with sexual impunity against minors who are vulnerable young women.

Taylor says parents can no longer have any reasonable confidence in the Judiciary to uphold the laws that were created to protect their children.

"The assumption that the judge has made, that young kids can give consent is wrong and false," Taylor said.

"What sort of message does that send to men who wish to target young women for sex?"

The Opotiki District Court heard all of the sex was consensual and, in some cases, between boyfriend and girlfriend. The men were aged 17 and 18 and the girls 14 and 15.

Four of the men were each charged with one count of unlawful sexual connection with a girl aged under 16, while one was charged with two counts. All were first-time offenders and pleaded guilty.

Judge Bidois said the situation was not similar to "Roastbusters", referring to a group of boys in Auckland who supplied girls with alcohol and took advantage of them. No charges were laid in that case, leading to a public outcry and criticism of how police handled the complaints.

In the Opotiki case, all of the incidents were either in the homes of the defendants or friends, or in one case, a car.