The absence of aggravating features such as violence, grooming, systematic abuse, or physical injury does not operate to mitigate the objective seriousness of child sexual offences under s 66A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). The gravity of offences is assessed by the features that were present, not by reference to those that were not. An aggregate sentence of 17 years (NPP 11 years) for four counts of sexual intercourse with a person under 10 and one count of aggravated indecent assault, where the offences were assessed as mid-range, was within the available range.
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