Appeal fails for serial child abuser Stephen Mitchell, sentence extended 19 months

CONTENT WARNING: This article includes details of childhood sexual abuse.

A former rock climbing coach and serial child sex offender has failed to reduce his sentence following an appeal.

Stephen Leonard Mitchell sexually abused six girls over 14 years between the mid-1990s and late 2000s when he held various positions that involved working with and coaching children in Canberra.

The ACT Supreme Court initially sentenced him to a total of 13 years and five months in jail in 2023. He later launched an appeal against this sentence.

His lawyers argued the court had erred by sentencing him incorrectly, using the higher maximum penalty at the time of his sentencing rather than the existing penalty when he committed his crimes.

On Thursday (29 August), Acting Chief Justice David Mossop sentenced him to a total of 14 years and nine months, adding 19 months to the initial sentence.

He said that the agreed facts around Mitchell’s offending “remain as serious and confronting” as they were at the time of the initial sentence.

The extension follows Mitchell admitting to and being sentenced over a charge of giving false or misleading information to a Commonwealth entity.

Mitchell sought a security clearance for a job at a PCYC in Canberra that was managed by the Australian Federal Police.

During a taped interview in 2003, he gave “misleading answers” about why he left his last job at a youth centre. In reality, he had received warnings about “inappropriate conduct” with one of his victims before being fired.

That job “allowed him to be involved in a position involving children”, Acting Chief Justice Mossop found, and was “associated with access to children and, hence, opportunities for further offending”.

While he resigned in 2005, he kept his security clearance and went on to work for the Federal Government for a number of years.

On Tuesday (27 August), the court also heard a call between Mitchell and one of his victims from the day of his arrest for the first time.

Mitchell made “no admissions” of guilt during the call, Acting Chief Justice Mossop said during the re-sentencing.

He also said it was “not possible to disentangle” any remorse Mitchell expressed from him regretting the “consequences for himself”.

During the hearing, Acting Chief Justice Mossp said “updated and additional” victim impact statements showed how Mitchell’s abuse continued to affect his victims and their families, including through his appeal.

“It was clear then, and remains clear, how the offending has had long-lasting and fundamental psychological effects on the victims,” he said.

He noted they recounted a “perceived lack of self-worth, intrusive recall of the events and, in some cases, attempts at suicide”, while a parent spoke of their guilt over not realising what their daughter was enduring.

In a statement after the sentencing, Elizabeth Hall, one of Mitchell’s victims, said the second sentence followed “decades of cumulated actions by his many victims and members of their families”.

“That these crimes were committed in the past, or that a decision error was made, are not the key reasons achieving justice has been so difficult,” she said.

“This experience has shown us that there are still too many cracks in our systems, including our laws, that serious child sex offenders, spiders like Stephen Mitchell, are still able to crawl through.”

Mitchell’s non-parole period will last until May 2033.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.

You can report a sexual assault by attending an ACT Policing station in person, calling 000 in an emergency or 131 444 for police assistance, or online if the sexual assault occurred more than six months ago.