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Aggravated Sexual Assault In Company – s 61JA Crimes Act 1900

Our Sydney criminal lawyers are experts in the area of sexual assault with significant experience successfully proving innocence for their clients, and on many occasions, even getting charges dropped early. Speak to them for urgent realistic and practical advice.

Your Options in Court

You will be found not guilty to this charge if the police fail to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ any one or more of the following:

  • You had sexual intercourse with the alleged victim
  • The sexual intercourse occurred without the alleged victim’s consent
  • You knew the alleged victim did not consent to it
  • It occurred in ‘circumstances of aggravation’
  • You were in company of one or more people at the time of the sexual intercourse

What is ‘circumstances of aggravation’?

This is where any one or more of the following apply to you, at the time of the alleged sexual intercourse:

  • You threaten to inflict ‘actual bodily harm’ on the victim, or any other person nearby by means of an ‘offensive weapon or instrument’ at the time of committing the offence
    • This is where you threaten to cause a kind of injury or harm to the other person that the law considers to be more than trivial or temporary by referring to threats of a dangerous weapon or anything made or adapted for offensive purposes. Here there needs to be no actual weapon produced to constitute the threat.
  • You intentionally or ‘recklessly’ caused the victim, or anyone else present or nearby, ‘actual bodily harm’ at the time of committing the offence
    • This is where you intended to cause the actual bodily harm or realised that the particular kind of harm caused might be caused by your actions. This can also include psychiatric injury.
  • You deprived the victim of his or her liberty for a period before or after committing the offence

Defences to this charge

You will be found NOT GUILTY if any one or more of the following apply:

  • Duress or necessity
  • You had reasonable grounds for believing the alleged victim gave you consent
  • None of the ‘circumstances of aggravation’ apply
  • The intercourse was for medical purposes
  • The alleged victim gave consent
  • DNA can in some cases assist in establishing there was no sexual intercourse

A specialist defence lawyer can advise you on all your options, with a proper analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your case to help you make the best choices to getting the best possible result. if you decide to plead guilty, you must know the following to maximise your chances at the best possible outcome.

25% Discount on punishment

Pleading guilty in the Local Court can give you a discount of the punishment of up to 25%. You can enter a plea of guilty at any stage, but the later you leave it, the less discount you will get. Sometimes you will receive no discount if left too late.

The greater the discount you get means the less serious the punishment will be to you. Timing is important which is why it is important to speak to an experienced specialist criminal lawyer to give you quick, realistic and practical advice early in your case.

Negotiate to drop charges

Your charges always have potential to being dropped or downgraded to a lesser serous charge resulting in a much more lenient punishment. This can be achieved by carefully reading the police evidence and pointing out all inconsistencies and holes before approaching both police and DPP to convince dropping or downgrading the charges.

It always depends on the evidence that comes out. Sometimes you need to issue subpoenas to get further evidence to show your innocence. Our team of specialist defence lawyers give a special focus on achieving this before anything else at an early stage of the case. They have succeeded on countless occasions for their clients, and they continue to do so now.

Negotiate Facts

Like your charges, the police facts are usually one sided and can be negotiated by having a thorough knowledge of the police evidence and the law before approaching the police with all the problems in their case. By changing the police facts of your case, which is what the Judge will read before punishing you, you can be put in a much better light and have it express what really happened allowing the Judge to give a much more lenient punishment.

Good character references

Good character references are written statements from people who know you expressing your good character from their past experiences with you. This is an opportunity to show the Judge what kind of a caring and otherwise responsible person you really are.

Our expert lawyers will guide you in getting together character references which paint your true character in the best way by ensuring each reference is reviewed and perfected to address the issues it should before handing it to the Judge.

Psychologist reports

Sometimes it is critical to get a report from a specialist expert such as psychologist or psychiatrist for the following main reasons for your case:

  • It is one of the best ways to provide an explanation for your conduct painted in the best possible way to you. It expresses your side of what really happened resulting often in a better outcome to your case.
  • If it diagnoses you with a mental condition or illness such as depression or bipolar disorder, it expresses insight into your state of mind at the time you committed the act. The law will generally give you a lesser serious punishment if the report establishes your psychological condition is linked to your offending conduct.
  • It can be a good way to express to the court that you understand the reason why you did was wrong and how bad and sorry you feel. The result of this allows the Judge to give you a lesser serious punishment.

Our specialist defence team have a panel of Sydney’s best hand-picked psychologists, psychiatrists and other experts they use to get specialist reports from who have decades of experience working towards getting you the best possible result.

Maximum penalty

This offence carries a maximum punishment of up to life imprisonment. This does not mean you necessarily likely to get the maximum punishment. The maximum punishment is reserved for only most serious kinds of offenders, and there are many other punishment options available.

Types of penalties

Options of punishment the Judge can give you include:

  1. Section 10 Dismissal
  2. Conditional Release Order
  3. Fine
  4. Community Correction Order
  5. Intensive Correction Order
  6. Full Time Imprisonment

Our experienced specialist defence lawyers have a proven successful record on countless occasions in getting charges dropped or downgraded. They are well respected for giving realistic and practical advice and maximising your chances of getting the best possible outcome.