Brisbane Grammar paid more than $1.1m in damages to sex abuse victims

One of Brisbane’s most prestigious private schools spent more than $1.1 million last year in payouts, counselling and fees relating to a former teacher and notorious paedophile.

BRISBANE Grammar School spent more than $1.1 million last year in settlements, counselling and fees relating to ­former teacher and notorious child sex abuser Kevin Lynch.

The school’s most recent annual report revealed the payments, including $623,000 in settlements to past students who were victims of the depraved pedophile.

Depraved school counsellor Kevin Lynch was a child sex abuser at both Brisbane Grammar School and St Paul’s in Bald Hills.

Lynch worked as a teacher and then a school counsellor at BGS between 1973 and 1988.

He later worked at St Paul’s school in Bald Hills, and ­co mmitted suicide in 1997 after being charged over child sex offences by Queensland Police.

BGS acknowledged within its report that it could not be sure whether more victims were still to come forward, and said that it was “not possible to accurately quantify the timing or amount of any future ­settlements in regard to these current and potential future claims”.

The report said it had acknowledged the criminal abuse of students since 2000, with BGS and its insurers ­dealing with claims by former students since 2002.

“The school’s approach to resolving these claims has ­always been a face-to-face ­personal apology by the Chair and current Headmaster, ongoing counselling for as long as is necessary, and mediated compensation payments where each former student is represented by independent lawyers,” the report said.

Brisbane Grammar School paid more than $1 million in 2018 in costs relating to its former teacher and child sex abuser Kevin Lynch.

At least 130 victims have had claims settled with the school after suffering abuse, including one who has a case before the Supreme Court seeking further damages.

BGS yesterday declined to comment further to The Courier-Mail.