Sexual Offence Lawyers Sydney

Sexual offences are treated with absolute severity under New South Wales law, and every single one carries a maximum penalty of imprisonment if you’re found guilty. For some offences, that maximum penalty is life imprisonment — the harshest sentence available in NSW. These penalties aren’t symbolic — they reflect how seriously the criminal justice system treats these charges, and how devastating a conviction will be for your future.

If you’ve been charged with a sexual offence in New South Wales, you need expert legal advice immediately. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Right now. Whether you’re under investigation, have been charged, or believe charges are coming, every moment without proper legal representation weakens your position and puts your freedom at greater risk.

Hannay Lawyers has offices in Sydney, and we’re available around the clock to provide urgent legal advice. Our criminal defence team has extensive experience defending clients facing sexual offence charges in NSW’s courts — and we understand the stakes, the complexities, and the strategies needed to protect your rights and fight for the best possible outcome.

Understanding Sexual Offences in New South Wales

Sexual offences represent one of the broadest and most serious categories of criminal law in New South Wales. These offences are primarily governed by Part 3 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), which sets out detailed definitions, elements, and penalties for a wide range of sexual conduct that the law deems criminal.

NSW courts treat sexual offence charges with exceptional seriousness. Sentences for these offences invariably involve imprisonment, and in many cases, lengthy terms of actual custody. The prosecution pursues these charges aggressively, often relying on complainant testimony, forensic evidence, digital communications, and expert reports to build their case against you.

The time to get legal advice is not after you’ve been formally charged — it’s the moment you believe you may be under investigation. Police interviews, witness statements, forensic examinations, and digital evidence gathering all happen before charges are laid, and everything that occurs during this investigative phase can determine the outcome of your case.

The Range of Sexual Offences in New South Wales

Sexual offences in NSW cover an extremely broad range of conduct, from alleged non-consensual sexual contact to offences involving children, offences involving digital material, and offences involving exploitation or abuse of vulnerable individuals. The Crimes Act defines these offences with specific legal elements that the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt.

Many sexual offence charges involve multiple counts or different offences charged together, which can compound the severity of the allegations and the potential penalties you’re facing. Understanding exactly what you’ve been charged with, what the prosecution must prove, and what defences may be available is critical — and it requires expert legal knowledge of NSW’s criminal law.

Sexual Assault and Aggravated Sexual Assault

Sexual assault under section 61I of the Crimes Act is defined as sexual intercourse with another person without their consent, knowing they do not consent or being reckless as to whether they consent. Sexual intercourse is broadly defined in NSW and includes penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth by any part of the body or any object. The maximum penalty is 14 years imprisonment.

Aggravated sexual assault under section 61J applies when sexual assault occurs in circumstances of aggravation — such as where the complainant is under 16 years old, where you’re in company with another person, where the victim sustains actual bodily harm, where you threaten to inflict actual bodily harm on the victim or another person, or where you deprive the victim of their liberty. The maximum penalty is 20 years imprisonment.

Aggravated sexual assault in company under section 61JA is one of the most serious sexual offences in NSW, carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. This applies when two or more people act together to sexually assault another person in circumstances of aggravation.

Consent is the central issue in most sexual assault prosecutions. Under NSW law, a person does not consent if they don’t have the capacity to consent (due to age, cognitive impairment, or intoxication), if they don’t have the opportunity to consent, if they consent because of threats or terror, if they’re unlawfully detained, if they’re unconscious or asleep, if they submit because of the abuse of a position of authority or trust, or if they’re mistaken about the nature of the act or the identity of the person.

Sexual Touching and Aggravated Sexual Touching

Sexual touching under section 61KC criminalises intentionally sexually touching another person without consent, knowing they do not consent or being reckless as to consent. Sexual touching includes touching with any part of the body or with anything else, and can be done directly or through clothing. The maximum penalty is 5 years imprisonment.

Aggravated sexual touching under section 61KD applies when the touching occurs in circumstances of aggravation similar to those for aggravated sexual assault. The maximum penalty is 7 years imprisonment.

These charges often arise from allegations of unwanted touching, groping, or other sexual contact that doesn’t involve penetration. While the penalties are less severe than for sexual assault, convictions still result in imprisonment and sex offender registration.

Sexual Act Offences

Section 61KE creates offences for sexual acts that don’t involve touching — such as forcing someone to witness a sexual act, or performing a sexual act in the presence of another person without their consent and knowing they don’t consent. The maximum penalty is 3 years imprisonment, or 5 years if circumstances of aggravation apply.

These offences recognise that sexual violation can occur without physical contact, and they commonly arise in cases involving indecent exposure, masturbation in view of others, or forcing someone to watch sexual acts.

Child Sexual Offences

NSW law treats sexual offences against children with extreme severity, recognising the vulnerability of child victims and the devastating harm caused by sexual abuse. The Crimes Act contains numerous child-specific sexual offences with harsh maximum penalties.

Sexual intercourse with a child under 10 under section 66A carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. This offence applies to any form of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, and consent is never a defence — the law treats young children as inherently incapable of consenting.

Sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 16 under section 66C carries a maximum penalty of 16 years imprisonment. The offence applies when a person aged 18 or over has sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 16. Special defences exist for relationships where the age gap is small and the younger person was close in age to 16.

Aggravated sexual intercourse with a child under 16 under section 66D increases the maximum penalty to 20 years where circumstances of aggravation exist, such as where the child is under the offender’s authority, where the offender is in company, or where the child is under 10.

Sexual touching of a child under 10 under section 66DB carries a maximum penalty of 16 years imprisonment and applies to any intentional sexual touching of a child under 10.

Indecent assault of a person under 16 under section 61M applies to indecent assault of children and carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment where the child is under 16, or 5 years where the child is under the offender’s authority.

Persistent sexual abuse of a child under section 66EA recognises patterns of ongoing abuse. This offence applies when a person maintains an unlawful sexual relationship with a child under 16 on two or more separate occasions over any period of time. The maximum penalty is 25 years imprisonment, reflecting the serious and repeated nature of the offending.

Grooming offences under section 66EB target preparatory conduct where a person communicates with a child under 16 with the intention of making it easier to procure the child for unlawful sexual activity. This captures online and offline grooming behaviour and carries a maximum penalty of 12 years imprisonment.

Procuring a child under 16 for unlawful sexual activity under section 66EC criminalises using material benefits, threats, deception, or other means to procure a child for sexual purposes. The maximum penalty is 15 years imprisonment.

Child Abuse Material Offences

Possessing, producing, or disseminating child abuse material is a serious criminal offence under sections 91H and 91FB of the Crimes Act. These offences carry maximum penalties ranging from 10 to 15 years imprisonment, depending on the nature of the conduct and whether it was for commercial purposes.

Child abuse material is defined broadly and includes material that depicts or describes a person who is, appears to be, or is represented as being under 16 engaged in sexual activity, or in a sexual context. The definition captures photographs, videos, computer-generated images, written descriptions, and other forms of material.

Possession under section 91H(2) applies if you knowingly possess child abuse material. It doesn’t matter how you obtained it, how long you’ve had it, or whether you intended to distribute it. Maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment.

Production under section 91H(1) applies to creating, filming, recording, or facilitating the creation of child abuse material and carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment.

Dissemination under section 91H(3) criminalises distributing, selling, publishing, or otherwise making available child abuse material. Maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment, or 15 years if for commercial purposes.

These charges frequently arise from NSW Police Force Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad operations targeting online file-sharing networks, from investigations into seized electronic devices, or from referrals from international law enforcement. The volume of material, the ages depicted, whether there was distribution or production, and whether you took steps to conceal your activity are all factors that influence both charging decisions and sentencing.

Other Serious Sexual Offences

NSW law includes numerous other sexual offences that can be charged depending on circumstances:

Voyeurism and intimate image offences under sections 91P to 91S criminalise filming or photographing intimate parts of another person without consent, observing another person engaged in private acts without consent, and installing devices to enable such observation. These are commonly known as “peeping Tom” or “upskirting” offences. Maximum penalties range from 2 to 5 years imprisonment.

Distributing intimate images without consent under section 91Q applies to “revenge porn” and similar conduct where a person distributes an intimate image of another person without consent, knowing they don’t consent or being reckless, and intending to cause harm or being reckless as to harm. Maximum penalty is 3 years imprisonment, with more serious penalties if the victim is under 16.

Forced marriage offences under sections 93AA to 93AC criminalise causing a person to enter a forced marriage, being a party to a forced marriage, or conducting a forced marriage ceremony. These offences recognise that marriage under coercion is a form of serious exploitation. Maximum penalties range from 7 to 9 years imprisonment.

Sexual servitude and trafficking offences under sections 80D to 80E criminalise causing or inducing another person to provide sexual services through coercion, deception, or abuse of power, and trafficking persons for sexual exploitation. These are extremely serious offences carrying maximum penalties of 15 to 19 years imprisonment.

Incest under section 78A prohibits sexual intercourse between close family members and carries a maximum penalty of 8 years imprisonment.

Sexual offences against people with cognitive impairment under sections 66F to 66FE recognise that individuals with intellectual disability or cognitive impairment may be unable to give informed consent. Taking advantage of such impairment is a serious criminal offence carrying penalties of up to 16 years imprisonment.

Will You Go to Jail?

This is the question every person charged with a sexual offence in NSW asks, and it’s impossible to answer without understanding the specific circumstances of your case, the strength of the prosecution’s evidence, your criminal history, and the available defences.

What we can tell you is this: sexual offence charges in NSW almost always result in imprisonment if you’re convicted, particularly for serious offences like sexual assault, child sexual abuse, or offences involving violence or breach of trust. Courts take these matters extremely seriously, and sentences routinely involve immediate custody, lengthy parole periods, and mandatory registration on the Child Protection Register.

But a charge is not a conviction. The prosecution must prove every element of the offence beyond reasonable doubt, and there are often significant weaknesses in their case — inconsistencies in complainant testimony, lack of corroborating evidence, problems with identification, issues with consent evidence, or procedural errors in how evidence was obtained.

What we also know is that these charges become more serious and harder to defend the longer you delay seeking legal help. Evidence gets locked in. Witnesses solidify their versions of events. Police finalize their investigation without your side of the story being properly presented. And by the time you finally get a lawyer involved, critical opportunities to challenge the case against you may have already been lost.

Why Immediate Legal Representation is Critical

Sexual offence investigations in NSW are complex, intensive, and designed to build the strongest possible case against you. NSW Police Force, particularly specialist units like the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad, will interview the complainant multiple times using specialist trained interviewers. They’ll execute search warrants to seize your phone, computer, tablets, and other electronic devices, conducting detailed forensic examinations looking for messages, images, browsing history, social media activity, or any other digital evidence.

They’ll interview witnesses, obtain medical evidence from the complainant, collect DNA samples and other forensic evidence, create detailed timelines, and build a comprehensive brief of evidence. They’ll conduct formal electronically recorded interviews of suspected persons (ERISP) with you — and everything you say will be transcribed, analysed, cross-referenced with other evidence, and used to support charges.

This is why you need Hannay Lawyers involved immediately. We ensure that every step of the investigation is conducted lawfully and that your rights under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW) are protected. We attend police interviews with you, advise you on whether to participate in the interview or exercise your right to silence, and ensure police don’t exceed their powers or obtain evidence improperly.

We also begin building your defence from day one. That means conducting our own investigations, gathering evidence that supports your version of events, identifying weaknesses in the prosecution’s case, obtaining expert reports where needed, and preparing a comprehensive defence strategy long before the matter reaches court.

Defences Available in New South Wales

NSW law provides several defences to sexual offence charges depending on circumstances. These defences can result in complete acquittal if successfully argued, but they require expert legal knowledge, strategic presentation, and often detailed evidence.

Consent

For adult sexual offences, consent is often the central issue. If the prosecution cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt that the complainant did not consent, or that you knew or were reckless as to whether they consented, you must be acquitted.

Consent must be genuine, free, and voluntary. Hannay Lawyers examines every aspect of the complainant’s evidence about consent — their actions before, during, and after the alleged offence, communications between you and the complainant, witness evidence, and any other evidence supporting that consent was given.

NSW law also recognises that a reasonable belief in consent can negate the mental element of the offence. If you held an honest belief that the other person was consenting, and that belief was reasonable in all the circumstances, this addresses the “knowing” or “reckless” element of the offence.

Honest and Reasonable Mistake

For some sexual offences, particularly those involving age, you may have a defence if you made an honest and reasonable mistake about a relevant fact. Under section 66D of the Crimes Act, it’s a defence to certain child sexual offence charges if you held an honest and reasonable belief that the child was 16 or older.

This defence requires evidence about what led you to believe the child was older — their physical appearance, representations they made about their age, context in which you met them, or other circumstances. The belief must be both genuinely held and objectively reasonable.

This defence is not available for all child sexual offences, particularly those involving very young children, and its application depends on the specific charge.

Identity

If the prosecution cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt that you were the person who committed the offence, you must be acquitted. Identity can be contested through alibi evidence showing you were elsewhere when the offence allegedly occurred, challenging the reliability of identification evidence, or demonstrating that another person could have been responsible.

Challenging Complainant Credibility and Reliability

While not a formal defence, challenging the credibility and reliability of the complainant’s evidence is often central to defending sexual offence charges. This involves exposing inconsistencies between different versions of their account, demonstrating implausibilities or impossibilities in their evidence, highlighting motive to fabricate or exaggerate, and showing that their account is inconsistent with independent evidence like medical findings, forensic evidence, or witness testimony.

NSW law imposes strict controls on how complainants can be cross-examined, particularly in child sexual offence cases, but skilled defence lawyers know how to challenge evidence effectively within these constraints.

Challenging Digital and Forensic Evidence

Where the prosecution relies on digital evidence from phones, computers, or online activity, there are often opportunities to challenge how evidence was obtained, whether search warrants were properly executed, whether devices were properly secured and examined, whether material has been properly identified and categorised, and whether there are alternative explanations for the presence of material.

Expert forensic computer analysis can sometimes demonstrate that material was accessed inadvertently, that timestamps have been misinterpreted, or that evidence has been contaminated or improperly handled.

How These Cases Are Prosecuted in New South Wales

Sexual offence prosecutions in NSW are handled by specialist prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). These prosecutors are experienced, well-resourced, and pursue these cases with determination.

Less serious sexual offences may be dealt with summarily in the Local Court, but most sexual offences are indictable and prosecuted in the District Court of New South Wales. The most serious matters involving extreme violence or other aggravating features may be heard in the Supreme Court.

For indictable offences, you’ll first appear in the Local Court for committal proceedings. The prosecution must establish a prima facie case — sufficient evidence to justify sending the matter to trial. Hannay Lawyers uses committal proceedings strategically to test the prosecution’s case, obtain early disclosure of evidence, and in some cases cross-examine witnesses.

If committed for trial, the matter proceeds to the District Court where it’s heard before a judge and jury. The prosecution presents evidence first, including complainant testimony (often by audio-visual link, particularly for child complainants), forensic evidence, expert reports, and witness testimony. Your defence team cross-examines prosecution witnesses, presents defence evidence, and makes closing submissions to the jury.

The prosecution must prove every element of the offence beyond reasonable doubt. If there’s any reasonable doubt, the jury must find you not guilty.

Sentencing for Sexual Offences in New South Wales

If you’re convicted of a sexual offence in NSW, the sentencing consequences are severe. Imprisonment is almost always imposed for serious sexual offences, with sentences ranging from several years to life imprisonment depending on the offence, circumstances, your criminal history, and aggravating or mitigating factors.

Standard non-parole periods apply to many serious sexual offences in NSW. For example, sexual assault carries a standard non-parole period of 7 years, aggravated sexual assault carries 10 years, and aggravated sexual assault in company carries 15 years. While courts can depart from these periods, they provide a reference point for sentencing.

Courts consider objective seriousness of the offence, use of violence or weapons, breach of trust, vulnerability of the victim, impact on the victim (often addressed through victim impact statements), whether you showed remorse, your prospects of rehabilitation, your criminal history, and whether you entered an early guilty plea.

In addition to imprisonment, you’ll be required to comply with the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 (NSW) if convicted of a registrable sexual offence. Registration obligations can last 8 years, 15 years, or life depending on the offence and sentence. Registration requires you to report personal details to police regularly and subjects you to ongoing monitoring and restrictions.

Courts can also impose extended supervision orders or continuing detention orders under the Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW) for serious sex offenders, allowing continued detention or intensive supervision even after your sentence expires.

Hannay Lawyers presents comprehensive sentencing submissions including character references, psychological or psychiatric reports, evidence of rehabilitation efforts, and detailed legal submissions about your personal circumstances. While outcomes can’t be guaranteed, we know how to give you the best possible chance of a more lenient sentence.

But sentencing is the last resort. Our goal is to defend you at trial and fight for an acquittal.

Why You Need Hannay Lawyers

Sexual offence charges are among the most serious, complex, and high-stakes matters in NSW’s criminal justice system. You’re facing years in prison, lifelong registration requirements, social stigma, employment restrictions, relationship destruction, and permanent damage to your reputation.

You need a legal team that understands how these cases work in NSW courts, how to challenge prosecution evidence, how to construct compelling defences, and how to fight for you at every stage.

Hannay Lawyers has defended clients facing sexual offence charges throughout New South Wales. We’ve successfully defended clients in District Court trials, secured acquittals where prosecution cases collapsed under scrutiny, and achieved outcomes that gave our clients their freedom and futures back.

We operate with urgency, professionalism, and absolute commitment to protecting your rights. We’re available 24/7, and we can provide legal advice within hours of you contacting us.