Peacock v The King

In *Peacock v The King*, the Court of Appeal of South Australia considered an appeal against a conviction for a sexual offence. The appeal concerned the interpretation and application of a statutory defence relating to the accused's belief about the complainant's age.

The central legal issue before the court was the proper test to be applied when assessing a defence under section 49(4) of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA). Specifically, the court had to determine how to evaluate the two elements of this defence: first, whether the accused honestly and genuinely believed the complainant was of or above the age of 17, and second, whether that belief was based on reasonable grounds.

The court reasoned that section 49(4) requires a two-stage test. The first stage is subjective, focusing on the accused's actual belief about the complainant's age. This belief must be honest and genuine, and if the accused held no belief, the defence would fail. The court emphasised that the reasonableness of this belief is not relevant at this first stage. The second stage is broadly objective, requiring an assessment of whether there were reasonable grounds for the accused's belief, having regard to the evidence known to the accused at the time of the alleged offence. This evaluation involves a normative judgment about whether the grounds offered are objectively reasonable in the circumstances, excluding self-induced intoxication from consideration when assessing reasonableness. The court noted that while the belief itself might appear unreasonable, the factual question remains what the accused actually believed.