A child sex abuse victim has confronted the former professional cricketer who preyed on him decades ago, saying his one-time coach stole his soul.
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The man was a 13-year-old Canberra cricketer when serial paedophile Ian Harold King, 79, abused him after a one-on-one coaching session in late 1998.
He read out a powerful victim impact statement in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday as King, who has pleaded guilty to a charge of committing an act of indecency on a child, faced a sentence hearing.
"You robbed me of something 23 years ago," the victim told King.
"Something deep inside of every single person here, besides you of course, something that shapes a child and makes them who they are as an adult, something that gives them a spark and that shines from the inside out, and gives them nothing but joy and a beautiful outlook on life as they begin to create their own journey into this world.
"Twenty-three years ago, the thing you stole from me was my soul."
The victim described how he still experienced flashbacks to the time he was a "frozen, helpless and humiliated boy" at the Lyons apartment where King, a former Queensland first-class cricketer, lived.
Agreed facts show King, who had told the victim he would be "the next big thing" in fast bowling, took him home after training, inappropriately touched him and performed a sexual act on him.
"I've woken up with my heart racing and all those awful emotions come flooding back," the victim said.
"It truly is horrible what this kind of abuse does to a human being and the lasting effects it still has years later, and that's what I have to deal with and carry with me every single day."
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The victim added that he had, at stages, felt so lost and disconnected from his friends and loved ones that he had considered taking his own life in order to leave feelings of pain, anger and humiliation behind.
"Do you get that?" he asked King, who had his head bowed in a remote room at Canberra's jail.
"Do you get the damage you've done?"
The victim went on to say that what should have been the best years of his life had been "filled with trauma every single day" because of what King did to him.
"For that, I hate you," he told the offender.
"You are a predator. There is so much evil in this world and with you behind bars, there is one less evil person in it."
The victim also expressed anger towards Cricket ACT and Cricket Australia, alleging people within those organisations had "turned a blind eye" despite knowing what King was capable of.
He ended by addressing King again.
"I'm no longer that innocent child you preyed upon," he said.
"I'm no longer that humiliated young boy you took advantage of and I'm no longer that child whose soul you stole.
"Because today ... today is the day I get back what you stole from me all those years ago.
"Today, I get my soul back and today, you finally get what's coming to you. Today, you finally pay the price for what you did to me."
King, who lost an eye when he was viciously attacked at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in 2013, is already serving a roughly 22-year prison sentence imposed over the sexual abuse of numerous other boys he coached.
That sentence does not expire until 2030 and while King became eligible for parole in 2020, it is understood he has not applied for early release from jail.
His lawyer, Jonathan Cooper, said on Monday that King had completed a sex offender program while in custody.
Mr Cooper asked for King's new sentence to be made partially concurrent with his existing jail term.
Prosecutor Morgan Howe agreed this would be appropriate, saying some extension of King's total sentence and non-parole period was justified.
Mr Howe said the material before the court did not provide any evidence of insight or remorse on the part of King, whose age and ill health were the only factors that had reduced his risk of reoffending since the last time he was sentenced.
Justice Geoffrey Kennett will sentence King at a later date.
Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
