R v Mitchell

Colin Jack Mitchell was convicted on six counts by a jury in March 2018. The counts were split between two sets of offences, three relating to events in 2017 and three relating to events in 1992. The court was required to decide on the appropriate sentence for each set of offences, and whether the sentence should be a finite sentence or a sentence of preventive detention. The court found that a sentence of preventive detention was appropriate for the 1992 and 2017 offending. The reasoning was that there was a pattern of serious sexual offending by Mitchell over a period of some decades. The court also found that there was a clear similarity between the nature of the offending, including its predatory nature, offending against strangers, seeking out vulnerable victims, associated violence, threats of further violence if instructions were not carried out, and in more recent times, removal of the victims to remote locations to prevent detection. The seriousness of the harm to the community, the information indicating a tendency to commit serious offences in the future, the absence of, or failure of, efforts by the offender to address the cause or causes of the offending, and the principle that a lengthy determinate sentence is preferable if this provides adequate protection for society were also considered. The court found that a finite sentence would not provide adequate protection. The final orders were that Mitchell was sentenced to preventive detention on each charge, save for charge 4 (abduction in relation to Ms G), with a minimum period of imprisonment of 10 years. On charge 4, abduction of Ms G under s 208(b) of the Crimes Act as it stood in 1992, Mitchell was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, to be served concurrently.