A judge has condemned a girl's bullies, labelling them "cowards", in an impassioned speech during the sentencing of a man who choked and indecently assaulted the then-12-year-old.
"Take a good hard look at yourselves, bullies," Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson said on Friday.
The girl's attacker, Anthony James Kenyon, faced the ACT Supreme Court for the start of his sentencing proceedings on Friday.
Kenyon, 25, had previously pleaded guilty to committing an act of indecency in the second degree, and committing an act of indecency on a young person.
Last year, Kenyon indecently assaulted the girl, who was riding her bike home from school, after choking her unconscious.
On Friday, Justice Loukas-Karlsson spoke directly to the victim after the "disturbing" revelation the girl was being bullied by other children in relation to the assault.
"What happened to you should never have happened. It should not happen in a civilised society," the judge said.
"You are a strong and brave young girl, this crime will not define you. And don't even think for a second that you bear any responsibility.
"To all those at school who bully you, you are cowards. This young, smart, brave girl deserves support not bullying."
Prosecutor Katie McCann said the victim was vulnerable due to her age, and "she was alone in this particular area where there was very little people around".
"The harm and impact from what can only be described as a traumatic incident arising from an innocuous activity, riding a bike home from school, is immense," she told the court.
Ms McCann said Kenyon's claims he had no memory of the crimes were "highly inconsistent with the detailed versions he gave to police".
She argued that while the specifics were unknown, "the act involved at least the touching of the victim's genital area".
"There were searches done by the offender at least some stage prior to the offending ... they confirm ... that the offender was harbouring this sexual interest in young girls," Ms McCann said.
"Not just a sexual interest, but a violent and forcible interest in acting upon that."
The court previously heard forensic analysis of Kenyon's laptop allegedly showed he had searched porn websites for the terms "rape", "little", "girl", "young" and "force".
On Friday, Kenyon's barrister, James Sabharwal, said his client "seems to recognise the trauma experienced by the young child".
"The main factor contributing to the offence appears to be untreated mental health issues and untreated attraction to children," Mr Sabharwal said.
Agreed facts state in February 2023, the 12-year-old victim was riding her bike through the Fadden Pines wooded area on her way home from school.
Kenyon shoved the girl off her bike before dragging her three metres away from the path.
He then climbed on top of her, straddled her stomach and held her down with his knees, before using both hands to squeeze her neck.
The girl tried to pull his hands off her neck, and slap him, but did not have the strength and eventually gave up.
At some stage after this she lost consciousness.
After a passer-by found the girl unconscious and called triple-0, the victim's father came to pick her up.
The girl pointed out Kenyon, who was walking away from the area, to her father.
The dad said to Kenyon: "You just bashed my daughter, What did you try to do? Did you try to rape her or something?"
When the offender denied this, the father punched him and told him to get to his knees before taking his phone and driving off.
He snapped a picture out of his car window as he left.
In addition to DNA evidence, which couldn't exclude Kenyon as a contributor to DNA found on the girls' underwear, police also used a seed expert.
Grass seeds found on Kenyon's black jacket proved it came into contact with the grass where the victim was attacked.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson is set to hand down her sentence in December.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
