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Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935
Div 9Kidnapping and unlawful child removal
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Division 9—Kidnapping and unlawful child removal
38—Interpretation
child means a person under the age of 18 years;
detain—detention is not limited to forcible restraint but extends to any means by which a person gets another to remain in a particular place or with a particular person or persons;
take—a person takes another if the person compels, entices or persuades the other to accompany him or her or a third person.
39—Kidnapping
(1) A person who takes or detains another person, without the other person's consent—
(a) with the intention of holding the other person to ransom or as a hostage; or
(b) with the intention of committing an indictable offence against the other person or a third person,
(a) for a basic offence—imprisonment for 20 years;
(b) for an aggravated offence—imprisonment for 25 years.
(2) A consent to the taking or detention is to be ignored in the following cases:
(a) if the person apparently giving the consent is a child or mentally incapable of understanding the significance of the consent;
(b) if the consent was obtained by duress or deception.
40—Unlawful removal of child from jurisdiction
(1) A person who wrongfully takes or sends a child out of the jurisdiction is guilty of an offence.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person acts wrongfully if—
(a) the person acts in the knowledge that a person who has the lawful custody of the child (either alone or jointly with someone else) does not consent to the child being taken or sent out of the jurisdiction; and
As a general rule, the parents of a child have joint custody of the child (see Guardianship of Infants Act 1940, section 4).
(b) there is no judicial or statutory authority for the person's act.