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6.—(1) Where a court is considering for the purposes of sentencing the seriousness of an offence under section 1 or 2, the court must treat the following as aggravating factors—
(a)the offence was committed by a public official in relation to the performance of her or his duties;
(b)the offence was committed by a member of the family of the victim;
(c)the offence was committed by a person in a position of trust;
(d)the offence was committed against a child;
(e)the offence was committed against a vulnerable adult;
(f)the offence was committed by the use of threats against a member of the family of the victim;
(g)the offender deliberately or by gross negligence endangered the life of the victim;
(h)the offence caused serious harm to the victim; or
(i)the offence was committed by a person who has previously been convicted—
(i)of an offence under section 1 or 2;
(ii)of an offence under any provision repealed by this Act;
(iii)in respect of anything done outside Northern Ireland which was not an offence mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) or (ii) but would have been such an offence if done in Northern Ireland.
(2) In this section—
“public official” means—
a member of the Northern Ireland civil service or the United Kingdom civil service;
a person employed by a body established by an Act of Parliament or by Northern Ireland legislation;
the holder of an office established by an Act of Parliament or by Northern Ireland legislation;
a police officer;
“serious harm” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008.