8A. Enhanced penalty for offence against vulnerable person

Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2025. 3 amendments in all.

(1)

This section applies where an individual or entity (called in this section the offender) is convicted of any of the following offences relating to a victim who is a vulnerable person and the enhanced penalty under section 8 does not apply to that conviction:

(a)

an offence under section 3, 4, 5 or 7 that is committed on or after 1 January 2020 against such a victim;

(b)

an offence under section 10 that is committed on or after 1 January 2020 for failure to comply with an order given in respect of such a victim of a contravention of section 3, 4, 5 or 7.

(2)

The court may sentence the offender to punishment not exceeding twice the maximum punishment that the court could, but for this section, impose for the offence, if at the time of committing the offence the offender knew or ought reasonably to have known that the victim was a vulnerable person.

(2A)

This section does not apply where the offender proves that despite being a vulnerable person, the victim was capable of protecting himself or herself from the offender in respect of the harm caused by the offence in the same manner as an ordinary person who is not a vulnerable person.

(3)

In this section —

“abuse” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Vulnerable Adults Act 2018;

“harm” means —

(a)

any physical harm;

(b)

harassment, alarm, distress or humiliation; or

(c)

being caused to believe that unlawful violence will be used against the victim;

“neglect” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Vulnerable Adults Act 2018;

“self-neglect” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Vulnerable Adults Act 2018;

“vulnerable person” means an individual who is, by reason of mental or physical infirmity, disability or incapacity, substantially unable to protect himself or herself from abuse, neglect or self‑neglect.