[Section 56 Heading substituted by section 4(a) of Act No. 6 of 2012]
| (1) |
Whenever an accused person is charged with an offence under section 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 it is not a valid defence for that accused person to contend that a marital or other relationship exists or existed between him or her and the complainant. |
| (2) |
Whenever an accused person is charged with an offence under— |
| (a) |
section 15 or 16, it is, subject to subsection (3), a valid defence to such a charge to contend that the child deceived the accused person into believing that he or she was 16 years or older at the time of the alleged commission of the offence and the accused person reasonably believed that the child was 16 years or older; or |
| (b) |
[Section 56(2)(b) deleted by section 9 of Act No. 5 of 2015] |
| (3) |
The provisions of subsection (2)(a) do not apply if the accused person is related to the child within the prohibited incest degrees of blood, affinity or an adoptive relationship. |
| (4) |
A person ('A') may not be convicted of an offence in terms of section 12 if, at the time when the sexual act was first committed— |
| (a) |
A was below the age of 18 years; and |
| (b) |
the other person ('B') exercised power or authority over A or a relationship of trust existed between A and B. |
[Section 56(4) substituted by section 27 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2021 (Act No. 13 of 2021), GG45823, dated 28 January 2022 - effective 31 July 2022 as per Proclamation Notice R.79, GG47105, dated 29 July 2022]
| (b) |
not a person contemplated in section 17(1) and (2) or 23(1) and (2), as the case may be. |
| (6) |
It is not a valid defense to a charge under section 20(1), in respect of a visual representation that— |
| (a) |
the accused person believed that a person shown in the representation that is alleged to constitute child pornography, was or was depicted as being 18 years or older unless the accused took all reasonable steps to ascertain the age of that person; and |
| (b) |
took all reasonable steps to ensure that, where the person was 18 years or older, the representation did not depict that person as being under the age of 18 years. |
| (7) |
[Section 56(7) deleted by section 4(b) of Act No. 6 of 2012] |
| (8) |
A person may not be convicted of an offence in terms of section 9 or 22 if that person commits such act in compliance with and in the interest of a legitimate cultural practice. |
Statistics Act, 1999
