Criminal Law, Sports Law - Sexual acts with a minor can lead to serious consequences for a young professional

Legislation

The legislation of all states have embodied in their Crimes Acts various penalties for sexual related offences. The parliaments of the States regard these matters very seriously and the penalties prescribed are often severe.

Case History

Tom and his mate Sam both had professional football careers on the rise and each looked forward to a successful national and international future.

After a tiring Friday night dancing at an RSL disco, the pair walked to the nearby bus stop for a ride home. They chatted to a group of girls who seemed streetwise and friendly. They appeared to be and in fact advised the boys they were over 16. The fact that they had been attending the RSL until 1.00am, apparently unchallenged by the security guards, reinforced this view.

Nature took its course and the boys ducked into a darkened laneway with two of the girls who then proceeded to perform an act of oral sex on the boys.

During this course of conduct they were caught in action by the local constabulary who subsequently charged the boys with “Having sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 16” under Section 66C of the Crimes Act 1900 NSW(The girls were in fact 13 years old !) Penalties generally vary depending on the age of the victim, but not greatly. The irony in the current case of the two boys is that they were not the active participants in the offence, the 13 year old girls were the active participants yet this is no defence under the statute.

What defence might be available ?

There is an available defence based on the recent High Court decision CTM v The Queen in which a majority of the full court followed the reasoning in a 1941 case of Proudman and Dayman which found that there was an honest and reasonable mistake of fact by the accused as to the age of the “victims”.

How could this sort of matter affect me ?

A conviction for that type of offence ( such as Section 66C of the Crimes Act 1900 NSW) could lead to imprisonment for a maximum period of 20 years ! Even if the circumstances were such that a custodial sentence could be avoided, any conviction would seriously jeopardise your ability to enter foreign countries for tours and would possibly jeopardise your chances of obtaining contract employment in any sporting club. If for no other reason clubs do not welcome adverse publicity which might arise if they engaged such a person. Furthermore a conviction of that nature would probably prevent your future employment in police or armed services and government departments or some private companies.