For a history of childhood sexual abuse to be taken into account as a mitigating feature, the fact of the abuse must be established on the balance of probabilities and a causal connection between the abuse and the offending must be demonstrated. A hearsay self-report to a psychiatrist, without corroboration and without evidence of causal connection, may be insufficient. The weight to be given to prior good character in child sexual assault cases is a matter for the sentencing judge's discretion, and it is open to a sentencing judge to conclude that good character evidence is of no ameliorating weight where the offender exploited that character to commit the offences. There is a divergence of views within the NSWCCA as to whether a sentencing judge is obliged to raise with the parties an adverse factual inference (risk of pregnancy) drawn from agreed facts.
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