The Court sentenced the offender to two years' imprisonment to be served by way of intensive correction in the community for sexual intercourse without consent, finding that the offender's mental state was recklessness rather than actual knowledge of non-consent. The Court held that the combination of the offender's youth at the time of offending (18 years old), a 10-year delay, diagnosed and treated ADHD and autism spectrum disorder contributing to moral culpability, strong rehabilitation demonstrated over the intervening decade, and the counter-productive effect of incarceration on mental health treatment justified departure from the general rule that adult sexual offenders receive full-time imprisonment. The Court declined to characterise the offending as involving a significant breach of trust, distinguishing cases involving inherent power imbalances such as parent-child or teacher-student relationships from a platonic friendship between peers.
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