Indecent Assault: The Presumption of Mens Rea Revisited

Extract

In B (a minor) v. DPP [2000] 2 A.C. 428 (noted (2001) 60 C.L.J. 26) the House of Lords held that mens rea must be established as regards the age element of the crime of gross indecency with a child under the age of 14, contrary to the Indecency with Children Act 1960. It followed that the defendant in that case, who honestly, but mistakenly, believed that the victim was over 14, was not guilty because he lacked the necessary fault. The Court left open the question whether mens rea also had to be established for the age element of indecent assault committed on a child under 16, but it has had the opportunity to consider this in R. v. K [2001] UKHL 37, [2001] 3 W.L.R. 471