Sentencing — discharge without conviction — assisting a person under the age of 18 to provide sex services — receiving earnings from a person under the age of 18 engaging in prostitution — no guiding tariff — Prostitution Reform Act 2003, ss 20 & 23(1) — Sentencing Act 2002, ss 106 & 107 — Land Transport Act 1998 — Z v R [2012] NZCA 607 — R v Liddell [1995] 1 NZLR 538 — Robertson v Police [2015] NZCA 7. The defendant had pleaded guilty to charges of assisting a person under the age of 18 to provide sex services and receiving earnings from a person under the age of 18 engaging in prostitution. He sought a discharge without conviction. The defendant had been aware that the complainant was some three months short of her 18th birthday at the time that he employed her, and that her employment was therefore illegal. The complainant now deeply regretted her involvement in commercial sex work, and the Court observed that Parliament had selected the minimum age of 18 as a protection against the psychological consequences of this type of work. The Court found that the offending was of moderate gravity: the defendant had deliberately broken the law, but the complainant had been only three months short of turning 18 and being eligible to legally engage in sex work. However the defendant was able to provide no firm evidence of the adverse consequences of a conviction on his employment (outside the sex services industry). Therefore the Court found that the consequences of a conviction would not be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending. The defendant was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months' supervision and emotional harm reparations of $1000. However the Court granted the defendant permanent name suppression, because of the likely consequences of publicity on his family members. Judgment Date: 1 May 2020. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * * *