Assault of a child under 13 by penetration
Part 1 Sexual Offences
(1)A person commits an offence if—
(a)he intentionally penetrates the vagina or anus of another person with a part of his body or anything else,
(b)the penetration is sexual, and
(c)the other person is under 13.
(2)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life.
(9) “Vagina” includes vulva.
Defined in s.79(9) · see it in the full ActThe court treated the assault by penetration as additional criminality capable of aggravating the lead count or being reflected through totality, and considered an upward adjustment of about one year appropriate (see paras [22]; [24]).
The court treated the under-13 element as requiring proof of the victim’s age and contrasted it with the general penetration offence. That distinction explained why the date error affected the analysis differently across the counts (see paras [12], [23]).
The section 6 category 2A guideline comparator, with an 11-year starting point, was treated as a reference requiring adjustment for historic offending rather than a mechanically determinative sentence. (see paras [14], [16], [20])
1 more judgment, and what each says about section 6, are in the case-law panel in the full Act.
15.Section 6 makes it an offence for a person intentionally to penetrate sexually the vagina or anus of a child under the age of 13 with a part of his body, such as a finger, or with anything else, such as bottle or other object. The penetration must be sexual, as defined in section 78. Whether or not the child consented to the act is irrelevant.