Section 131B — Crimes Act 1961: Meeting young person under 16 following sexual grooming, etc

131B Meeting young person under 16 following sexual grooming, etc (1) Every person is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years if,— (a) having met or communicated with a person under the age of 16 years (the young person ) on an earlier occasion, he or she takes one of the following actions: (i) intentionally meets the young person: (ii) travels with the intention of meeting the young person: (iii) arranges for or persuades the young person to travel with the intention of meeting him or her; and (b) at the time of taking the action, he or she intends— (i) to take in respect of the young person an action that, if taken in New Zealand, would be an offence against this Part, or against any of paragraphs (a)(i) , (d)(i) , (e)(i) , (f)(i) , of section 98AA(1); or (ii) that the young person should do on him or her an act the doing of which would, if he or she permitted it to be done in New Zealand, be an offence against this Part on his or her part. (2) It is a defence to a charge under subsection (1) if the person charged proves that,— (a) before the time he or she took the action concerned, he or she had taken reasonable steps to find out whether the young person was of or over the age of 16 years: and (b) at the time he or she took the action concerned, he or she believed on reasonable grounds that the young person was of or over the age of 16 years. Section 131B was inserted, as from 20 May 2005, by section 7 Crimes Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 41).