Brisbane Grammar School sued for $30m by child sex victim of Kevin Lynch

David Welsh was based in London trading billions with one of the world’s largest banks when his life fell apart. The abuse he suffered at the hands of notorious paedophile Kevin Lynch had left him with chronic psychiatric conditions. He’s now suing Brisbane Grammar School for $30m

A global financial whiz who was sexually abused as a child at Brisbane Grammar School is mounting a landmark $30 million personal injury claim that threatens to bankrupt the elite college.

David Welsh, 51, a victim of notorious paedophile counsellor Kevin Lynch in the 1980s, is seeking record compensation after chronic psychiatric conditions forced him to leave his $1 million-a-year job as vice-president of Goldman Sachs in London 20 years ago.

Mr Welsh, who now lives at home with his elderly parents in Morningside and is unable to work or form relationships, said his abuse by Lynch during his first semester of Year 11 caused him to endure a life of self-loathing.

“What I took away from the Lynch thing was that I was useless, a waste of space, weak and not a real man, even though I was only a 15-year-old boy,” he said.

“When I quit Goldman Sachs, no one could believe it. I was doing billion-dollar trades and that, for me, felt cool. It was exhilarating, exciting and absolutely my dream job.

“But all of the depression and anxiety I’d felt since Lynch was starting to overwhelm me, I’d tried different things, hoping to ‘fix’ myself, and I really truly believed that if I could succeed in investment banking, life would be good, I would be happy, I would have self-confidence, I wouldn’t hate myself.

“So when I actually succeeded at Goldman Sachs it was a massive let down – I was earning millions but it fixed nothing internally, and as so many of us do, I self-medicated with alcohol.

“Oblivion was a better place to be than my life.”

David Welsh, 15, in 1984

Kevin Lynch, who later abused boys at St Paul’s School, Bald Hills, killed himself in 1997 after being charged with child sex offences.

In 2002, the desperately stricken Mr Welsh, who’d kept his abuse a secret, returned to Brisbane but couldn’t hold down a job and eventually blew all his savings on booze and gambling.

Now on a disability pension and with “nothing but the clothes on my back and a laptop”, he has started a crowd-funding campaign to pay legal fees to fight the board of trustees at Brisbane Grammar School.

He also hopes to set up a slush fund to help other victims take their claims to court.

Eschewing the no-win, no-fee deals offered by some law firms and favoured by schools because payouts are low, Mr Welsh said all of the 130 claims against Grammar, including by victims abused by Lynch between 1973 to 1987, had settled at mediation.

“This is nothing to be proud of.

“Not once has a victim of Brisbane Grammar School’s gross negligence received a judge’s ruling on their damages. Equally, the community knows nothing of these backroom deals as the victims are gagged by confidentiality orders.”

Mr Welsh, who has been seeing a psychiatrist for 10 years and has never married or had children, said he was pushed to sue the board of trustees after receiving a “derisory and insulting” settlement offer at mediation.

His lawyer James Lavercombe, of JML Rose, said it was highly likely the “landmark case” could bankrupt the school.

“It’s massive because unlike other claims, you’ve got an injury suffered where the loss can be measured by the very impressive salary he was earning at Goldman Sachs, and that was 20 years ago,” Mr Lavercombe said.

“We are pushing for at least $30 million, which is more than the school has in cash.”

David Welsh today. He has lost his career and the ability to form relationships. Picture: Adam Head

The 2020 Brisbane Grammar School annual report, submitted to Parliament, shows it has $29.64 million in total cash and cash equivalents.

Mr Lavercombe said most victims were forced to settle “for crumbs” to avoid going public and costly courtroom sagas.

Mr Welsh said he had nothing to lose.

“They can’t take anything from me because I have nothing,” he said.

“That smiling boy is gone. Some part of you stops growing at that point in time. I can’t even remember how to smile.”

He said his parents, now in their late 70s, always felt something changed in their only son in Year 11.

“Mum reckons she knew something shifted, and my grades plummeted, but she and Dad could never work out what was wrong with me until I told them a few years ago.”

Mr Welsh, who was born in Northern Ireland, said his only pleasure in recent years was reading or watching TV but even that had become impossible.

“As this case has become more intense over the last 18 months I’ve struggled to focus and concentrate.

“That’s all I’m hoping for at the end of this. I’m not hoping to be better, a happy person or get married or anything. I can’t be fixed or ever be normal.

“I just want to get back to reading and watching tele – if I could do that, as of today, I’d take it and say fine.”

Mr Welsh has a GoFundMe page to fund his legal fight.

Brisbane Grammar School declined to comment on the case.

Kevin Lynch suicided when he was charged with multiple child sex offences.