A complainant who fails by word or action to manifest dissent to sexual penetration is not thereby taken to have consented, particularly where the complainant is a child in a relationship of fear and dependence with the offender. For combined child prostitution procurement and sexual offences by a stepfather over approximately 12 months, involving a 15-16 year old victim, an extensive criminal history but no prior sexual offences, and no early guilty plea or remorse, the appropriate total sentence is in the range of 14 years imprisonment served concurrently rather than 18 years served partly cumulatively.
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