The mere fact that a person is a teacher at a school at which another is a student is not of itself sufficient to establish 'authority' under s 48(1) of the Crimes Act 1958, but a combination of factors — including being on the same campus, the teacher's knowledge of the student through a social group, participation in school-related celebrations, and the prospect of a future teaching relationship — may be sufficient to raise a jury question on authority. The threshold for a permanent stay on the ground that a prosecution is foredoomed to fail remains very high: it must be plain beyond argument that the prosecution suffers from an incurable vice.
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