The Court held that despite six counts of sexual intercourse with a child (including penile-vaginal intercourse with a child aged 6-7), a non-custodial sentence of concurrent three-year community correction orders was more appropriate than full-time imprisonment, where the offender was aged 14-15 at the time of offending, had been normalised to inappropriate sexual conduct through his own childhood abuse, had demonstrated 11 years of offence-free pro-social behaviour, and presented a very low risk of sexual reoffending. The Court applied juvenile sentencing principles under s 6 CCPA notwithstanding the offender was 26 at sentencing, holding that the principles apply based on age at offending regardless of offence seriousness, and that the impact on the victim under s 6(h) is subject to the other child-focused principles. The objective seriousness of all six counts was assessed as falling within the low range, informed by JA v R [2021] NSWCCA 10, given the offender's youth, age relativity, and the brief and undetailed nature of the offending conduct.
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