The accused was charged with sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman with a severe developmental disability.
The accused admitted to having consensual sexual intercourse with the complainant, resulting in her pregnancy.
The core issues were whether the complainant had the capacity to consent to sexual intercourse and, if not, whether the accused had an honest but mistaken belief in her capacity to consent.
The court heard expert evidence indicating the complainant functioned cognitively at the level of a three to five-year-old child.
The court found that the complainant lacked the capacity to understand the nature and consequences of sexual intercourse, including the risks of pregnancy and disease.
Furthermore, the court rejected the accused's defence of honest but mistaken belief, finding that he was willfully blind to her obvious developmental limitations and failed to take reasonable steps to ascertain consent.
The accused was found guilty of sexual assault.