The victim of a notorious paedophile coach has criticised major cricketing bodies for not preventing the historical sexual abuse suffered by more than a dozen children.
"I feel failed by Cricket ACT, Cricket Australia and by those who were in leadership positions at Ginninderra Cricket Club at the time," one victim said from the ACT Supreme Court witness stand on Tuesday.
"All of them failed to take action to keep me and others safe from you."
Ian Harold King, 80, has pleaded guilty to a slate of charges relating to three victims and offending that took place between 1997 and 2003, when he was aged in his 50s.
The serial child sex predator admitted to three counts of the persistent sexual abuse of a child under special care and two counts of sexual intercourse with a child.
King also pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and committing an act of indecency.
The offender has been behind bars since 2008 over the sexual abuse of 11 other boys, all but one of whom he coached.
The victim said the national and territory cricketing bodies had seemingly done little to reach out in support to those affected or potentially affected by King.
"It is very much like I and others have been left to figure things out alone and suffer quietly. I am greatly angered by this lack of action," the victim said.
King's three most recently discovered victims "courageously" described their perpetrator as a "master manipulator and predator" through impact statements.
"My parents invited you to our home for Christmas," one victim said through tears, telling the offender he had also groomed his parents.
"You sat there in their company, eating Christmas lunch, in full knowledge of what you were doing to me."
That man said King made him believe the abuse he suffered was necessary for him to be "a better cricketer and man".
"It was a story you told me so you could take advantage of me and the trust I had in you," he said.
King sat silently as he watched proceedings via audio-visual link from the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
"You were a master manipulator and predator who ruined so many people's lives," another victim said in a statement.
"You stole my passion for cricket and for life itself."
A third victim also addressed King directly in court, telling the predator the burden of his abuse was no longer "my cross to bear".
"I will not be ashamed of this anymore," the victim said.
"This story is not who I am."
Prosecutor David Swan outlined certain details of King's offending against the three then-teenage victims.
"He preyed upon the interest of these young boys in cricket and that was the mechanism that afforded him the opportunity for his offending," Mr Swan said.
"[There is an] inescapable inference the offender engaged in detailed planning and premeditation."
Mr Swan said King's "modus operandi", of offering his victims private training sessions before luring them to his home, where he would sexually abuse them, was "put into practice repeatedly".
"A place where they could not easily have escaped the offending," the prosecutor said.
Since that initial sentence, the serial offender's time behind bars has been extended numerous times due to more victims coming forward and subsequent fresh convictions.
While the man became eligible for parole in November 2020, he has never applied for early release.
"He's a man who accepts he's unlikely to ever leave the [Alexander Maconochie Centre]," Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer Sam Lynch said.
King's minimum prison term will have to be reset again.
Justice Belinda Baker reserved her sentencing decision for a later date.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525; Bravehearts 1800 272 831; Blue Knot Foundation 1300 657 380.
