Kane Sharman challenges conviction on sex charge

The ex-boyfriend of a babysitter found guilty of sexually penetrating a 14-year-old girl has challenged his conviction on the ground he believed she looked older for her age.

Kane Sharman has been acquitted on a charge of sexually penetrating a girl under 16 after he successfully appealed his sentence in the Supreme Court.

A former babysitter’s ex-boyfriend reasonably believed that a 14-year-old girl he was found guilty of sexually penetrating was older, a court has ruled.

The Supreme Court has acquitted Kane Sharman after it set aside his conviction on a charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16 while he was in a relationship with Sharon Lavery during the mid ‘90s in regional Victoria.

The former couple were tried together before a jury in the County Court last year and Mr Sharman was sentenced to 18 month’s jail which was wholly suspended for two years. The charge was in relation to the girl performing oral sex on him.

Lavery, who used to babysit the girl almost three decades ago, was sentenced to a minimum of 18 months’ imprisonment after she was found guilty on five charges of indecency with a child under 16.

The girl was around 14 or 15 at the time she was sexually abused when she smoked cannabis and consumed alcohol with the then couple as she wanted to be “treated like an adult”.

Kane Sharman attempts to shield his face outside the County Court following an 18-month sentence which was wholly suspended for two years.

Mr Sharman argued in the Supreme Court that the prosecution could not prove that he believed the girl was 16 years or younger. For this reason, he said, the verdict was “unsafe and unsatisfactory”.

The Supreme Court said the trial prosecutor conceded he could not prove that the sexual penetration took place without her consent. The court also referred to evidence the girl gave at trial that she had no reason to tell Mr Sharman that she was under 16 “because everyone knew how old she was”.

Facts such as the girl smoking cannabis and drinking with Mr Sharman and Lavery and her engaging in sexual activity increased the likelihood of him believing that she was 16 years or older, the Supreme Court said.

Lavery’s total sentence was four years and two months’ imprisonment.