There is no hierarchy of sexual penetration under the Criminal Code (WA). A sentencing court should not commence its assessment of the seriousness of an offence of sexual penetration by making a judgment as to whether the form of sexual penetration is inherently more or less serious than any other form. The observations in Taylor at [78] do not establish any point of principle capable of general application and should not be understood to re-introduce a hierarchy of sexual penetration offences. The harm to a victim relevant to assessing seriousness will lie in a victim impact statement, not in supposition or speculation about how the victim might have perceived a different hypothetical offence.
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