A 12-year-old boy was the youngest person charged by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions last year for a serious sexual offence while the youngest victim was a 3-year-old girl.
According to the annual statistics released by the ODPP, there were 322 people charged with a total of 768 counts of serious sexual offences as of 31 December 2022.
Of the 322 accused persons two were females, 41 were juveniles and four were police officers.
The offences were rape (498), attempted rape (13), abduction with intent to commit rape (19), assault with intent to commit rape (3), aiding and abetting rape (14), domestic trafficking in children (1), indecent assault (29), defilement (20) and sexual assault (171).
There were 300 victims of whom 188 victims were under the age of 18 years.
Of the 300 victims, 283 were female and 17 were male victims.
There were 147 offences that occurred in domestic relationships or where the accused was known to the victims.
A total of 58 cases were withdrawn after discontinuances (Nolle Prosequi) were filed in 2022.
