An Adelaide driving instructor who abused female students will likely be deported to the United Kingdom, as his victims tell the court they felt scared and unsafe and now fear driving.
Kenneth Campbell has admitted to three charges of aggravated indecent assault and four counts of aggravated assault.
The 64-year-old touched four women while he was teaching them to drive.
Some of them were high school students at the time.
One woman — who cannot be identified — told the Adelaide Magistrates Court through a victim impact statement that the driving school did not listen to her when she reported the abuse.
"I was worried that I was in a vulnerable position being in a car, in an isolated location with someone who has control of the vehicle I was in," she wrote.
"After the incident, I felt embarrassed and disgusted at what had occurred.
"I was reluctant to start driving lessons again due to the fear.
"At the time, I felt helpless that the driving school has not listened to my report of his behaviour and I was apprehensive about what was happening to other driving candidates."
Another woman told the court the idea of learning to drive was now "impossible".
A third victim said she felt "shame and sadness" every day that she drove.
"I was very vulnerable at the time I started driving lessons with Ken, and I believe that he knew this and victimised me because of it," she said in her victim impact statement.
"Ken obviously thought that just touching my thigh or making sexual comments to me was trivial.
"To me, it was just another instance where I was just an object to be used and abused."
Guilty plea to 'spare' victims trauma
Campbell changed his pleas to guilty to during his trial.
He was initially charged with 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault over a period of seven years, but had some charges dropped and some downgraded.
His lawyer, Jane Abbey SC, told the court Campbell changed his pleas to "spare" the other victims from "the trauma".
She told the court he had now accepted responsibility for his behaviour, realised it was not "appropriate or right" and had made "major adjustments" in his attitude towards women.
"Mr Campbell has not only learnt the error of his ways, but he's also learnt what's required of him in all sorts of social settings," she said.
"He's learnt the impact of his behaviour."
Ms Abbey told the court Campbell was not an Australian citizen and would likely be deported to the United Kingdom — away from his wife of 40 years and adult children — if he was jailed for more than 12 months.
Touching to 'congratulate' drivers
Prosecutor Sophie Taylor told the court today Campbell's crimes had a significant impact on his victims and it was "highly inappropriate".
"Driving students ought to have confidence when they get into a vehicle with their driving instructor — who is often, as in this case, a stranger — that they will be taught by their instructor to drive in a safe and comfortable environment," she told the court.
"And that their instructor will not abuse their position to touch them in any way during their driving lessons."
The court has previously heard the Kensington Gardens man inappropriately touched some of his students during driving lessons or while parked at their homes to "congratulate" them for performing a driving manoeuvre correctly.
Campbell was arrested in June 2020 after two victims separately reported incidents to police.
The court has previously heard other women, who were unknown to each other, later came forward after seeing media reports about the arrest of an eastern suburbs driving instructor.
Campbell will be sentenced next month.
