16Assault with intent to commit buggery
(1)It is an offence for a person to assault another person with intent to commit buggery.
(2)Section thirty-nine of this Act (which relates to the competence as a witness of the wife or husband of the accused) does not apply in the case of this section, except on a charge of an assault on a person under the age of seventeen.
(3)For the purposes of the last foregoing subsection a person shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been under the age of seventeen at the time of the offence charged if he is stated in the charge or indictment, and appears to the court, to have been so.