Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Crimes Act 1958 - SECT 37AAA

Jury directions on consent

37AAA. Jury directions on consent

For the purposes of section 37, the matters relating to consent on which the
judge must direct the jury are-

   (a)  the meaning of consent set out in section 36;

   (b)  that the law deems a circumstance specified in section 36 to be a
        circumstance in which the complainant did not consent;

   (c)  that if the jury is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a
        circumstance specified in section 36 exists in relation to the
        complainant, the jury must find that the complainant was not
        consenting;

   (d)  that the fact that a person did not say or do anything to indicate
        free agreement to a sexual act at the time at which the act took place
        is enough to show that the act took place without that person's free
        agreement;

   (e)  that the jury is not to regard a person as having freely agreed to a
        sexual act just because-

   (i)  she or he did not protest or physically resist; or

   (ii) she or he did not sustain physical injury; or

   (iii) on that or an earlier occasion, she or he freely agreed to engage in
        another sexual act (whether or not of the same type) with that person,
        or a sexual act with another person.