Under Section 151 of Criminal Code of Canada, the offence is defined when the accused directly or indirectly touches the body of a person under 16 years old for sexual purpose. The act must be intentional and the accused must have intended the sexual act with the person under the age of 16 years old. The act under this also involves invitation to sexual touching. In this scenario the accused incited a person under the age of 16 to touch their own body or the accused’s body or of another person for a sexual purpose. This act can be done directly with the body or indirectly with an object.

Certainly the onus is on the accused if they took reasonable steps to ascertain the age of the victim. While in some cases the touching in family scenario may be argued as part of daily routine for example of giving bath. In most cases the defence is the sexual act in question did not occur.

In many cases, there are historic allegations of sexual interference. As there is no time limitations the lengthy the time period when the assault occurred; the evidence is often based on memories that may not be reliable after the passage of time.

These type of cases many times depend on lawyer who can successful cross examine the complainant and raise reasonable doubt on the testimony of the complainant. Our office has experience in representing accused charges with various criminal offences.