Contravention of order intending to cause harm or fear for safety
Sex Offender Registration Period
Quick Take
1Where an offender's borderline and anti-social personality disorder traits, learning difficulties and childhood trauma do not appreciably impair the ability to understand that sexual activity with a child is wrong, the Verdins principles do not operate to reduce moral culpability, particularly where the offending occurred in the context of significant substance abuse.
2A child's apparent or ostensible consent to sexual activity can never, of itself, be a mitigating factor; the sentencing inquiry focuses on the circumstances in which that consent came to be given, including the relationship and age disparity between offender and child, following Clarkson v The Queen [2011] VSCA 157.
3Where a course of conduct of sexual penetration of a child results in pregnancy, the gravity of the offending is assessed as well above the lower range of seriousness, warranting a sentence of imprisonment that cannot be combined with a community correction order.
