Brave Edan fights for justice in bid to make serial pedophile pay-up, set precedent for other victims

This brave young Adelaide man has taken on the wealthy CEO who abused him in a bid to stop other powerful predators from exploiting a loophole to dodge compensation.

This brave young man has taken on a high-profile, habitual pedophile in a bid to get law change to help other child sex abuse victims. Picture: Ben Clark

For almost seven years, a confused and hurting Edan van Haren kept secret what no young person should ever have to consider, let alone live through.

At age 14 he fell victim to a habitual pedophile living in his local community – a seemingly respectable and highly-regarded town champion – described by the judge who eventually put him behind bars as “abhorrent”.

But it wouldn’t be until a few days before his 21st birthday he would reveal to his loving dad the horror that had irreversibly ripped the innocence and joy of childhood from him.

Now 27, the warm-smiling, quietly-spoken young man – one of 10 known victims of former Bega Cheese boss Maurice Van Ryn – has been awarded more than $1.4m in damages and court costs for the psychiatric harm caused to him as a teenager when living in regional New South Wales.

While Justice Nicholas Chen’s delivery in the NSW Supreme Court early this month represents a significant emotional win, it’s not yet known if Edan will ever see the money due to a legal loophole that allows convicted pedophiles to “hide” their assets in superannuation.

READ MORE ON THE FIGHT TO CLOSE THIS LOOPHOLE BELOW

“After six years of legal stuff you begin to lose faith … you do start to question yourself and think ‘maybe I am just a sook’, ‘maybe I should just suck it up’ but it felt like the judge was saying ‘I’ve got your back’,” he says.

“He destroyed (Van Ryn) on the court stand … all the anger I wanted to put onto him, the judge basically did it for me … it was kind of nice to know Justice Chen got it.”

The crimes against Edan, which include sexual assault and rape, earned the serial child sex offender just 12 months jail time as he was already serving time for offences against other boys and girls.

Maurice Van Ryn, Bega Cheese CEO has numerous Pedophile charges against him.

“Personally, I have always felt if I could trade places with him and go to prison for one year and not have to do this court stuff for seven years, I would … he got out of it easy,” Edan said.

The damages are designed to cover Edan’s lost past and future earnings, lost superannuation and future medical and out-of-pocket expenses due to major depression, suicidal ideation and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.

Edan is considered when he talks about how the abuse he suffered as a child has impacted on his and his family’s lives – he has six siblings.

“I am very lucky to have always had a family full of love … there are a lot of people in this situation who don’t have anyone but my parents, my step parents are awesome,” he said.

At the time of the grooming and subsequent abuse his parents had separated and he was living with his mum in NSW while his dad had moved to South Australia.

In a bid to distance himself from both the perpetrator and the memories, he relocated to SA for his final years at school.

“I remember telling my mum that I wanted to move but I never said anything about what had happened … I didn’t have the balls to tell her what was going on,” he says, tears welling in his eyes.

“She blamed herself for me wanting to leave … and I’ve always blamed myself for breaking my mum’s heart.”

Edan says his coping mechanism for many years was to “push” thoughts of what had happened to him “under”, largely isolating himself.

Initially he focused on study, achieving an impressive ATAR of 94.6 and commencing mechanical engineering at university which he later deferred.

“I would just keep it in and never realised it had affected me in the way it had until one day, when everything sort of just came crashing down … I woke up one morning and it was like a light-switch, that was the day I pretty much dreamt of death and it has pretty much been like that ever since,” he says.

“I felt this intense sense of emptiness, aloneness and blame … there were countless nights where I would cry myself to sleep or hold a razor blade against my leg and cut myself to leave scars … then wake up, the next morning, put a smile on my face to go to work.

“It is not like a pain that goes away, it is just always there … it really hit me when my younger brother turned 14 – if someone did it to him, I would want to push them off a building.”

Increasingly angry and erratic, Edan began drinking to excess and engaging in impulsive, dangerous and at times violent behaviour, spiralling into a “pretty shit boyfriend”.

He also attempted suicide.

It was after spending a night in a police cell he finally admitted to his dad the dark secret he’d hidden since being a kid. The only person he’d told previously was his former girlfriend several months earlier, who’d pleaded with him to tell his parents.

“Dad just cried … it was just before my 21st birthday and he slept outside my room for a couple of days,” Edan said.

His devoted mum and stepdad immediately flew from interstate to be with him, as did his older brother while his adoring Sydney-based grandmother, a solicitor, tells the Sunday Mail the shocking revelation caused “half my hair” to fall out.

“My (older) brother is definitely my idol … but he has blamed himself, so that is hard,” Edan says.

“After (Justice Chen’s ruling) we just hugged and cried for about 10 minutes, for me it was a mixture of ‘thank you for everything’ and ‘maybe, I can make it. Maybe my life doesn’t just amount to this’.”

He has reconnected with a former mate and fellow victim.

“We never spoke about it but somehow we both knew … it was only a few weeks ago I learnt the full extent of his personal circumstances,” Edan says.

“I got out of it easy compared to him because I got to move away and that is something I will always blame myself for – if I had spoken up, he wouldn’t have been left there (for it) to keep going.”

Van Ryn, 68, who is eligible for parole early in 2029, has been issued legal documents, ordering the money be paid within two weeks.

“As much as I don’t think he will pay it (unless the law changes), I am hoping he will so I can avoid more court stuff,” Edan says, adding he never expected to be awarded such a significant compensation payout.

“If he does pay, my dream is to set up some kind of legal aid for child abuse kids … because, I feel like those who don’t have a family like mine, end up in prison, or worse, because your childhood does have a pretty big impact on your future.

“I don’t know if I will ever be happy but I do have hope that I can at least maybe not waste my life and do something good with it – and have a purpose.”

For now, it is a day at a time with Edan drawing inspiration from a quote tattooed on his arm: “We are all going to make it, no tears just dreams”.

Adelaide lawyer Andrew Carpenter is lobbying for changes to prevent pedophiles from being able to hide assets in their superannuation to avoid paying compensation to victims. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Adelaide lawyer’s mission to close superannuation compo loophole

An Adelaide lawyer is lobbying for urgent changes to correct a legal loophole that protects pedophiles from having to pay compensation to their victims.

As it stands offenders can “park” assets in superannuation, sheltered from legal claims.

Andrew Carpenter, who specialises in child sexual abuse matters at Websters Lawyers, has stepped up his long-running fight in the wake of the awarding of $1.4 million in damages and court costs to Edan van Haren, abused as a teenager in New South Wales.

Despite this month’s order by NSW Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Chen it is not yet known if the convicted serial offender – Maurice Van Ryn, 68, a former CEO of Bega Cheese jailed for crimes involving 10 children – will pay the money, or claim he doesn’t have it.

The damages are designed to cover victim Edan van Haren’s lost past and future earnings, lost superannuation and future medical and out-of-pocket expenses due to major depression, suicidal ideation and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now 27, Edan is described by his family as the “perfect” son and brother who has been left “struggling like hell” since the abuse as a 14-year-old.

His grandmother Carolyn Kelly said beyond seeking personal justice, Edan wanted to drive change for others, bravely allowing his name to be published as part of the civil proceedings.

“He (hoped) … it might assist with changing the legislation, ensuring victims are entitled to access the superannuation of perpetrators in future,” the Sydney-based solicitor said.

Ms Kelly said learning of her grandson’s abuse, which he revealed to family ahead of his 21st birthday, had devastated his family.

“When I found out, half my hair fell out … it is soul-destroying and heartbreaking for a family (to) watch this beautiful young person they love struggle and not know how to help,” she said.

“His father described (him) as his perfect son … (he) was and is perfect but is now struggling like hell. Time alone does not heal this.

“He is loving and would do anything for anyone … he radiates goodness … for that man to abuse (him) the way he did, is just hideous … it is traumatising for the whole family.”

The victim’s Sydney-based lawyer Jason Di Michiel, director at Premier Lawyers, said his client’s life had been irreversibly altered.

“(But this compensation) is important … a court award doesn’t fix the psychological injuries but it is a weight off your shoulders when you are told you’ve done nothing wrong … it can make a difference to a person’s mental state … it is an acceptance,” he said.

Mr Carpenter said the Federal Government must act immediately to make the law changes needed.

“(It could be) as easy as adding a few words into the Bankruptcy Act … to state that superannuation is a protected asset unless it relates to child sexual abuse,” he said.

“It is all about getting justice for survivors … we are seeing offenders get off lightly and we see many people who don’t face justice at all.

“The government has said changing legislation around superannuation is difficult but when Covid hit, it managed to change legislation within 10 days to enable early access release (and) in January legislation … was again changed, to tax people who have over $3m.”

A government spokesperson said consultation on two draft proposals to allow child sex abuse victims access to their offender’s superannuation for unpaid compensation orders had now closed with “the government currently considering the submissions.”