Where age is an element of the offence (e.g., s 66A requiring victim under 10), a sentencing judge may take into account the victim's age within the relevant range as bearing on objective seriousness (the younger the child, the more serious the offence), but cannot find the victim 'very young' as a statutory aggravating factor under s 21A(2)(l) where the victim's age is close to the upper limit of the age element. A limited degree of penile penetration is not necessarily indicative of a lower level of objective seriousness for s 66A offences.
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