Elizabeth Smart’s full chilling court statement, as she confronted kidnapper face-to-face

Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart has shot to number one on Netflix, but it doesn’t go into detail about the court case. Here’s what she said to her kidnapper the first time she saw him face-to-face.

The new documentary follows one of America’s biggest abduction cases. Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom on 5th June 2002 when she was just 14 years old, by a man called Brian David Mitchell, who went by the name Emmanuel.

He was a street preacher who kept her captive and sexually abused her, claiming he was told to do so by God. She was eventually found after nine long months, in February 2003, and Mitchell was arrested. But the court case went on for almost a decade.

Eventually, Elizabeth agreed to testify in court so she could finally move on. On 25th May 2011, she spoke to her abductor face-to-face, and what she said was chilling. The whole time she spoke, Mitchell was softly singing hymns.

Credit: Netflix

“I don’t have very much to say to you,” she began, as reported by ABC News at the time. “I know exactly what you did. I know that you know what you did was wrong. You did it with full knowledge. But I have a wonderful life now and no matter what you do, you will never affect me again.”

She continued: “You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned. But in this life or next, you will have to be held responsible for those actions, and I hope you are ready for when that time comes.”

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The judge then asked if Mitchell, whose hands and feet were tied, had anything to say, and he just kept on singing. When he was sentenced, he simply sang louder.

Smart went on to tell the court exactly what happened over the next three days. From the witness stand, she spoke in detail about the “nine months in hell” she endured.

Credit: Netflix

“I was crying a lot and I didn’t realise what was happening at first,” she said on one of the days. “I begged him not to. I did everything I could to stop him. I pleaded with him not to touch me.

“I felt like prostitutes had a better life than I did. I told him I was just a little girl. A 14-year-old girl against a grown man doesn’t even out so much.”

When she left the courtroom after Mitchell was sentenced to life behind bars, she expressed her happiness at finally being able to move, telling reporters: “Today is the ending of a long chapter and the very beginning of a new chapter.”

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Featured image by: Netflix