The offences under s 66C of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) are offences of absolute liability so far as the age of the child is concerned. The repeal of s 77(2) by the Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Act 2003 did not give rise to a common law defence of honest and reasonable mistake of fact (the Proudman v Dayman defence) in respect of the age element. An accused's honest and reasonable mistake as to the age of the complainant is not a defence to a charge under s 66C but may be taken into account on sentence. Failure to apply the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 when sentencing a juvenile offender renders the sentence invalid.
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