2 Neutral citation: This judgment may be cited as Geldenhuys v The State (470/2007) [2008] ZASCA 47 (31 March 2008) ____________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT ____________________________________________________________________ VAN HEERDEN JA Introduction [1] During 2004, the appellant was charged, in the Regional Court held at Pretoria, with 13 counts of indecent assault. The complainant in respect of each of the first 11 counts was L B, born on 29 June 1983, while counts 12 and 13 related to A, L’s younger brother by approximately seven years. The State withdrew count 5 on the first day of the trial and the appellant pleaded not guilty to all the remaining charges, his defence being a complete denial. On 9 February 2005, the appellant was found guilty of ten counts of contravening s 14(1)(b) of the Sexual Offences Act 23 of 1957 (the Act), viz the commission of indecent or immoral acts with L (the complainant), a boy under the age of 19 years at the relevant times. The regional magistrate, Mr Travers, acquitted the appellant on the two counts relating to the younger brother. On 8 July 2005, the appellant was sentenced to imprisonment of one year each on six of the ten counts and, on the remaining four counts, to imprisonment of 15 months each, the total term of imprisonment thus being 11 years. [2] With the leave of the Regional Court, the appellant appealed to the Pretoria High Court against both conviction and sentence. On 21 November 2006, his appeal against conviction was dismissed (Hartzenberg J, Poswa J concurring), but his effective sentence was reduced to 7 years’ imprisonment. The High Court granted leave to appeal to this Court against both conviction and sentence, but the appellant does not persist before us with his appeal against sentence. [3] In heads of argument filed in the Pretoria High Court, the appellant raised a constitutional issue in limine. By way of a new ground of appeal, counsel for the appellant argued that, to the extent that s 14(1)(b) of the Act criminalises sexual intercourse and other sexual acts of one person with another where the latter (whether