ACT Attorney-General admits prosecutors made ‘serious mistake’ in child sex predator bungle

ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury has acknowledged prosecutors made ‘a serious mistake’ in their conduct of the case against child sex predator ­Stephen Leonard Mitchell.

Stephen Leonard Mitchell.

ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury has acknowledged prosecutors made “a serious mistake” in their conduct of the case against child sex predator ­Stephen Leonard Mitchell, who is likely to walk free from jail years earlier than his original sentence.

However, Mr Rattenbury ­declined to say whether he would launch a full inquiry into the botched prosecution, or to comment on claims by Mitchell’s victims that prosecutors were so preoccupied with the Bruce Lehrmann rape case that they failed to act on early warnings about the problem.

Last year Mitchell was ­sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison after pleading guilty to sexual offences against six girls between 1994 and 2008.

But due to errors by the ACT Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the trial judge, the sentences for the agreed plea deal with the former rock climbing coach were based on the current maximum sentence of 25 years when they should have been based on the seven-year maximum sentence at the time of ­offending.

The mistake means the serial pedophile is certain to have his sentence significantly reduced at a hearing in August, potentially ­creating a precedent for other ­offenders to exploit. Speaking on ABC Radio Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Rattenbury said he understood why the victims were upset. “It does appear that there was a serious mistake made by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and they were given poor advice,” he said.

“I met with them just last week and they explained this to me. They were deeply upset and I can absolutely understand why.”

Mr Rattenbury said the government would review the legislation to see whether there were any ways in which the legislation could be clarified, and would ask incoming DPP Victoria Engel “to ask questions about what follow up is being done to ensure that these sorts of mistakes are not systemic issues”.

Four of Stephen Mitchell's victims Jessie Orrell, left, Elizabeth Hall, Sophie Vivian, and Odette Visser left court with linked arms. Picture: ABC News

But Mr Rattenbury declined to commit to a full inquiry that that would include claims by victims, revealed on Tuesday by The Australian, that the DPP was blinded at the time by its pursuit of the Lehrmann rape case. The Australian reported that in a recent conference with Mitchell’s victims, then-acting director of public prosecutions Anthony Williamson – who was not the director at the time of the bungled case – ­acknowledged the DPP office had failed victims, including with miscommunications and allocation of resources against the background of the Lehrmann case.

Sophie Vivian was abused as a child by Stephen Leonard Mitchell.

The botched prosecution has shattered Mitchell’s victims, who said they would never have agreed to a plea deal if they had been aware of a sentencing glitch that would substantially lessen his jail time.

Two of the women agreed not to pursue more serious charges of sexual penetration against Mitchell on the understanding that his prison term would be based on the maximum 25-year sentence available.

“I think we need to recognise that The Australian newspaper is actively campaigning on this issue, and have posed a lot of ­questions in this matter including contradictory questions,” Mr Rattenbury told the ABC.

Asked whether the serious allegations raised by The Australian warranted a full inquiry to ensure this did not happen again, Mr Rattenbury responded: “What I can assure both you and the community is that we take this very seriously and we are working our way through it at the moment.”