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Questions On Sexual Offences Act Essay

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The parties mentioned in the question may be charged with three different sexual offences. The first possible scenario is rape, contrary to Section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (henceforth referred to as ‘SOA 2003’) and the parties that may be liable are Steve and Ryan. The second offence is one contrary to Section 4 SOA 2003: causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent. The parties that could be held accountable are Steve for his actions concerning Sonia as well as Jane and Leela for their actions against Steve. Finally, the third offence is sexual assault contrary to Section SOA 2003 and Jane is the person concerned. Rape Steve Steve engaged in unprotected sex with Leela after having falsely convinced her that she could not get pregnant as a result of it. He may be liable for rape depending on whether or not Leela’s consent is deemed to be initially valid and unaffected by Steve’s deception. There is potential scope for prosecution under Section 74 of SOA 2003 which postulates that consent is considered to be given “if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice”. Although “capacity” has not been expressly defined in statute, according to the guidelines established in IM v LM & Others [2014], in order for a person to have the mental capacity to consent to sex , he/she need only have a basic understanding of the act sex: what it involves physically, the fact that there may be health risks and the fact that some

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