New offence of 'negligent sexual assault' may send wrong message: DPP | MWhitbourn
in May last year following the acquittal of Luke Lazarus, who was accused of raping an 18-year old woman, Saxon Mullins, in an alleyway behind his father's Kings Cross nightclub in 2013.the definition of sexual consent was "adequate and appropriate" and reflects a "positive, communicative model of consent".Jurors in NSW are directed that consent requires a conscious and voluntary agreement, which can be conveyed by words or actions.
The NSW Bar Association is pushing for a new category of "negligent sexual assault" with a lower maximum sentence, designed to cover cases in which an alleged offender has an honest but mistaken belief in consent. Under the existing law in NSW, those offenders are guilty of sexual assault if they had "no reasonable grounds" for believing there was consent.
But the government agency said the new offence might encourage alleged offenders to plead guilty to the lesser offence, which in "appropriate cases" might benefit the complainant and the criminal justice system.
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