A rarely-invoked common law doctrine known as "doli incapax" could see the youngest of three Scots College schoolboys escape criminal responsibility over the alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old girl in Bondi Junction, Sydney, last month. Under New South Wales law, children under 14 are presumed to lack the capacity to understand their actions were criminally wrong, meaning the defence could apply to the 13-year-old defendant but not his two co-accused, who have both already turned 14.

All three boys face charges of aggravated sexual assault in company relating to an incident in an alleyway between 7.30pm and 8.25pm on 22 July, with additional counts of aggravated sexual touching split between them. No pleas have been entered and all three remain on bail under strict conditions, including bans on contacting the alleged victim and entering Bondi Junction, though one 14-year-old was granted a court variation allowing supervised access to a specific address. The doctrine, dating to mediaeval English common law and formalised in statute in the 1600s, is a rebuttable presumption that the 13-year-old could still invoke even after turning 14 as proceedings continue.