Child abuser Stephen Mitchell found guilty of indecently assaulting woman

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to sexual abuse.

A child sex offender has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a woman, who was aged in her 20s at the time, during a self-defence lesson.

Former rock climbing coach Stephen Leonard Mitchell is serving years in jail after he admitted abusing six children, but he fought the woman’s allegations at a hearing.

However, when Magistrate Jane Campbell delivered her decision this week, she ultimately said she accepted the woman’s account and found him guilty of a charge of committing an act of indecency.

The woman met Mitchell through a youth club when she was in her early teens and stayed in touch as she grew up, the ACT Magistrates Court was told earlier this year.

In the 2010s, she was trying to leave a violent relationship when they met up in Canberra.

“Come on, I’ll show you some defence moves so you can protect yourself when you go home,” she alleged Mitchell told her, adding she didn’t ask him to teach her.

She said he spent 10 minutes showing her different self defence positions, during which she said it was “as if our bodies were glued together”.

She said towards the end of this session, he pressed his genitals into the back of her body a few times while showing her the moves.

“It felt extremely uncomfortable,” the woman said, also saying he had been “thrusting” against her body.

Mitchell’s lawyers argued the prosecution could not prove the contact was intentional and it would have been accidental during a training session.

Magistrate Campbell said the prosecution’s case was solely based on the woman’s evidence.

But she found the woman to be a very compelling witness who made genuine attempts to recall events, didn’t embellish and was very clear in her description of the incident.

As it occurred years ago, she said it was not surprising the woman may have forgotten some details.

The magistrate did say she didn’t think Mitchell’s motive to teach the woman self-defence was a “ruse” to engage in sexual contact.

But she found he had continued to place his genitals against her body.

The woman had been in the courtroom to hear the decision along with several supporters, including some of the others who survived his abuse.

Earlier this year, the then-57-year-old was sentenced to 13 years and five months’ jail for sexually abusing six children between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s.

He has since launched an appeal over his sentence.

After Magistrate Campbell delivered her guilty verdict, she adjourned to sentence Mitchell on 20 June 2024 in order for his appeal to be heard first.

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 or by visiting www.1800respect.org.au. 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.