NGCOBO J They are not required to remain in the courtroom after they have completed their testimony. However, while the child complainant in a sexual offence case is giving evidence, the public must be excluded. In these circumstances, the differentiation that the subsections make between, on the one hand, child complainants in sexual offence cases and, on the other hand, the child accused, is rationally related to the duration of time that each is required to spend in the proceedings. [143] Nor does the differentiation amount to unfair discrimination. The protection accorded to each child is related to the amount of time each spends in court. While both remain in court, the public are excluded from the proceedings. And, if for any reason, the child complainant is required to remain in court after completing his or her evidence, the public may be excluded under section 153(3). [144] Another constitutional defect that the High Court found in section 153(3) is that it makes the exclusion of the public from the proceedings dependent upon a request by, or on behalf of, the minor complainant’s parent or guardian. A court is not obliged to draw the attention of the parent or guardian to this provision and the protection available to the child if the proceedings were in camera, it was argued. As pointed out earlier, the principle that the best interests of the child are of paramount importance in all matters concerning the child imposes an obligation on presiding officers to draw the provisions of section 153(3) to the attention of the complainant’s parent or guardian. Paragraph 19 of the Guidelines makes it plain that child complainants and their parents or guardians have a right to be informed of the 74