What is Sexual Abuse and Sexual Assault?
Sexual abuse is a horrific sexual crime to harm, humiliate and degrade another person’s dignity. It leaves horrific wounds on the individual’s personality, and they find it difficult to restart their life due to fear, social embarrassment, and mental trauma. Victims of sexual abuse took years to heal and go back to their normal life. Many of them leave their schools, colleges, work, cities, and countries to distance themselves from the haunted past. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health-related problems make their life hell.
It’s not easy to stand for yourself and raise your voice against the abuse. But, there are strict laws that give the right to the victims to fight against the crime and punish the offenders for sexual abuse or assault.
If you are a victim of sexual abuse, hiring a Criminal lawyer in Perth can bring justice to your case.
Child abuse is referred as child molestation while adult sexual abuse comes into a category of rape or horrific sexual abuse.
There are two common measures that tell you whether an individual has committed sexual abuse are:
1. They make another person engage in any sexual act by threatening or invoking fear into them.
2. They get involved in a sexual act with another person who is weaker physically or can’t able to comprehend the exact nature of the conduct to others.
Sexual assault is referred to as a sexual activity that takes place without any clear consent of all parties involved. People who have mental illness, or are under the age of eighteen or intoxicated are considered to not give consent to sexual activities.
Examples of Sexual Abuse
1. Forced Kissing
2. Forced touching
3. Forced violent sexual activity
4. Refusing to use condoms when asked to do so
5. Forced birth
There are several acts that constitute sexual assault. They are
1. Rape
2. Molestation
3. Forced sodomy
4. Incest
Recovering Damages as a Victim of sexual abuse
The scope of Damages and remedies for abuse victims include compensatory damages. The damages cover the reimbursement for the following expenses:
1. Medical bills
2. Relocation costs if they don’t feel safe in their home
3. Lost wages, salary, or time because of the incident
4. Therapy costs, including physical or mental
What type of defenses might be raised in a sexual abuse or sexual assault case?
There are a few defenses that a person accused of sexual assault can have, depending on the intricacies of their case. Most defendants try to claim that the assault was not an assault but it was consensual. The assault mostly happens privately, so there is a lack of evidence to confirm this assertion. If the alleged victim says he was drunk, the defendant tries to prove in the court that they were not.
Other commonly used defenses in a sexual abuse or sexual assault cases include:
1. Suppression of Evidence: If evidence like text messages, emails, phone calls, video or semen is suppressed, the person accused of sexual assault is going to use this suppression as a defense.
2. Consent: Sexual assault mostly happens in a private space. However, if individual charges with an assault prove that the alleged victim consented to the activity. It contributes to a potent defense.
3. Unconsciousness: If parties involved in the sexual activity are unconscious due to the alcohol or drugs consumption, the activity is considered illegal.
4. Insanity: A mentally challenged or insane person can’t be in a position to give consent to sexual activity. If the person charged with sexual assault is insane, this can act as a powerful defense.
So, hire a top-notch lawyer in Perth to represent your sexual assault or abuse case in court.
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