ACT Supreme Court hears victim impact statements in case of Stephen Mitchell

The victims directly spoke to their abuser on Friday, as he sat in court during his final moments of freedom, and outlined the continuing "ripple of trauma and pain" his crimes caused.

Stephen Leonard Mitchell previously pleaded guilty to seven charges relating to multiple victims.

The 57-year-old had pleaded guilty to two counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, three counts of committing an act of indecency in the presence a child, and a single count of persistent sexual abuse of a child.

The Holt man sexually abused six different girls between 1994 and 2008, committing sexual offences against them in the ACT, NSW and overseas.

Mitchell worked as a professional rock climbing coach for much of this time and trained the majority of his victims.

In the ACT Supreme Court on Friday, eight victim impact statements were read out. These included statements from the girls and their families.

Many of the victims told the court of suicide attempts and ongoing mental health issues as a result of the abuse.

They detailed their families being groomed and manipulated by Mitchell, who turned their childhood memories into "scarred, distorted nightmares".

"I feel like a soldier who was captured by the enemy, tortured, broken and abused and not put back together," one victim said.

Another victim first met Mitchell when she was only nine. When she was 11 in 1994, Mitchell first sexually abused her. This would continue for years.

Agreed facts show Mitchell gave her a Russian wedding ring which was too big for her child-sized hands and had to be taken to a jeweller. They would then often return to the jeweller to get the ring polished.

In court, the victim said when Mitchell first sexually touched her, she thought "it must have been an accident".

"I didn't understand," she said.

The victim told the court she and Mitchell made plans to travel overseas and he had once sent a limousine to pick her up for a dinner date.

"We've watched countless sunsets together, me wrapped in your arms," she said.

"That was not where I should've been. I should been doing kid things with other kids. You told me you loved me and sulked because you knew you shouldn't have been in love with a child."

The victim ceased contact with Mitchell when she was 16, after years of persistent sexual abuse.

She said this experience still impacted her life. When the woman purchased her first home, she was proud of herself, before panicking she had maybe bought near the offender.

When her baby was only minutes old, her thoughts returned to Mitchell when she noticed the boy had a cleft chin.

"I really only know you through the eyes of a child, and sometimes you don't feel real," the victim said.

However, she continued, saying she remembered the hair on his arms and legs, his chewed nails and still recognised his handwriting.

"I know you," she said.

"I honestly wish I didn't have to say a vulnerable word in front of you. None of my life is your business and it never should have been. I'm a lot stronger than you, I'm smarter than you and, for the first time in 30 years, I'm freer than you."

The other five victims met Mitchell through his position as a rock climbing coach, or via the Police Community Youth Club in the ACT where he worked as youth activities coordinator.

Two of the victims were only nine when they first met Mitchell and he started coaching them.

Another girl was first coached by Mitchell in 1997, when she was 12. The offender would end up taking her to the United States to compete in rock climbing championships.

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She left home at 15 to get away from Mitchell.

The victim told the court Mitchell had taken advantage of the sexual abuse she had already suffered at the hands of someone else.

"[Mitchell] made me an unwitting accomplice to the abuse of others," she said.

"My sporting achievements provided Stephen Mitchell the legitimacy he needed to lure others into the sport."

Justice David Mossop revoked Mitchell's bail and remanded him in custody on Friday.

He indicated he planned to impose a sentence on Monday morning.

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