The defendant had intercourse with a girl aged 15 years and 9 months. He was about a year older.
Held: He could rely on the statutory defence to a charge laid against him under section 5 of the 1885 Act, but he had pleaded guilty to a count of indecent assault arising out of the same incident. Lord Hewart CJ said that it was ‘a grotesque state of affairs that the law offers a defence upon the major charge, but excludes that defence if the minor charge is preferred’. Nevertheless the conviction was upheld. The defendant’s sentence of four months’ imprisonment was reduced to a nominal sentence of one day.
Judges:
Lord Hewart CJ
Citations:
(1928) 21 Cr App R 45
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v K HL 25-Jul-2001
In a prosecution for an offence of indecent assault on a girl under 16 under the section, it was necessary for the prosecution to prove the absence of a positive belief in the defendant’s mind that the victim was 16 or over. The legislation history . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.220565