Where a statutory offence of rape can be committed by alternative modes of penetration under s 35 of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), the jury need not be unanimous as to the mode of penetration, only as to the fact of penetration. A presentment alleging alternative modes is not duplicitous. When sentencing for abduction and the subsequent sexual offence as separate counts, the sentencing judge must not allow the circumstances of the sexual offence to inflate the sentence for the abduction, as this constitutes double punishment contrary to Pearce v The Queen.
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