A paedophile rock climbing coach has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a woman while showing her "self-defence moves" to use on her violent partner.
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Stephen Leonard Mitchell, aged in his late 50s, met his adult victim through a youth club when she was a young teenager.
Magistrate Jane Campbell found that more than a decade later, he purposefully pressed his erect penis into her buttocks without her consent.
"This immediately made her feel uncomfortable," Ms Campbell said on Tuesday, when she ultimately found the offender guilty of committing an act of indecency without consent.
Mitchell is currently serving a jail sentence for abusing six different girls between 1994 and 2008, committing sexual offences against them in the ACT, NSW and overseas.
In a hearing held last month, the ACT Magistrates Court heard the man and the adult victim had been "good friends" and the magistrate accepted he held a "genuine concern" for her safety.
The woman even described Mitchell as having been a "male role model", with the man providing her with a burner phone she told police helped her escape a relationship with a bikie.
However, the magistrate accepted the version of events presented by the victim, who was aged in her 20s at the time of the assault, regarding the offence.
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The victim previously told the court Mitchell was "just trying to show me moves" but she became "extremely uncomfortable" once he repeatedly pressed his erect penis against her during one particular move.
"It was like he was glued to my back," she said.
"I trusted this man."
She told Mitchell she understood what he claimed to be teaching her in an effort to stop him because he "just kept on going".
The magistrate rejected a number of submissions made by the defence during the hearing, including that the victim's evidence was inconsistent or that she could have mistaken his penis for a "groin protector".
She described the victim as an "honest and reliable witness" who did not embellish her account.
"I do not accept the contact was incidental to the training," Ms Campbell said.
She also said she placed "no weight whatsoever" on the victim's lack of complaint with the offender during or following the assault.
"This is not to be regarded as the complainant consenting to the act," Ms Campbell said.
On Tuesday, two victims of Mitchell's child abuse offending attended the court to show their support.
Mitchell had worked as a professional rock climbing coach, a position he used to abuse his young victims.
He is appealing the 13-year-and-five-month sentence Justice David Mossop handed him earlier this year, despite pleading guilty to a slate of charges that included the territory's first persistent sexual abuse of a child offence.
On Tuesday, defence lawyer Peter Woodhouse said the child abuse sentence was being appealed on grounds that Justice David Mossop had applied the wrong maximum penalty.
Mitchell is set to face court for a sentencing hearing in June for the indecent assault and an admitted charge of providing misleading information to a Commonwealth entity, following his appeal.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Bravehearts 1800 272 831; Blue Knot Foundation 1300 657 380.
Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
