Joanne Willmot loses appeal to stay her $1.7m claim against state

A woman who claims to have been sexually abused ‘on a weekly or fortnightly basis’ while in foster care will not be allowed to take her $1.7m negligence case against the Queensland Government to trial.

A woman who alleges she suffered physical and sexual abuse as a child in state care will not be allowed to take her negligence case against the Queensland Government to trial.

In a blow to survivors of historic childhood sexual abuse, the Court of Appeal has upheld a decision to stay Joanne Edith Willmot’s civil case after a judge found the significant passage of time and the deaths of key witnesses meant a “fair adjudication of the serious allegations made was not possible”.

Ms Willmot brought the $1.7 million damages suit alleging she suffered psychiatric injuries as a result of the abuse she suffered while she was a “child of the state” in the 1950s and 60s.

In her statement of claim, Ms Willmot said as an infant, she was placed in the Cherbourg Girls’ Dormitory and was later sent to live with foster carers Jack and Tottie Demlin between 1957 and 1959.

The Girls' dormitory building at Cherbourg, 1933. It burnt to the ground in 1998. Picture: State Library of Queensland

She was later returned to the girls home after becoming “severely malnourished and emaciated” during her placement with the foster carers.

“She alleges that whilst in the foster care of the Demlins, Jack Demlin sexually abused her ‘on a weekly to a fortnightly basis’,” the judgment said.

“As well, she was regularly subjected to beatings by the Demlins for minor infractions of their rules.”

Ms Willmot alleged she was also subject of physical abuse at the Cherbourg girls’ home.

“The alleged offender was Maude Phillips, the Girls’ Dormitory supervisor who, it is pleaded, subjected Ms Willmot to severe floggings in the presence of others for being late for school,” the appeal judges wrote.

During her childhood, she said she was also sexually assaulted twice by male relatives when she visited her grandmother, first when she was aged about six and again when aged 13.

“In summary, Ms Willmot’s claim against the State is on the basis of a failure by it properly to monitor and supervise her and those into whose care she was placed by the State, including foster parents, her grandmother and the Girls’ Dormitory,” the judges wrote.

“There is no allegation that the State is vicariously liable for the conduct of individuals.”

In a decision published in August last year, Chief Justice Helen Bowskill ordered a permanent stay of Ms Willmot’s civil claim.

Justice Bowskill said the case fell into an “exceptional category” that warranted a stay.

She said the state had no means to investigate the allegations against the Demlins, Ms Phillips or one of the family members Ms Willmot alleged abused her which would have been critical in establishing liability.

Justice Helen Bowskill last year found the state had no means to investigate the allegations as the people allegedly responsible had died. File picture

All four have since died and the allegations were not put to them when they were alive.

“I reiterate that this conclusion is reached having regard to the consequences of the passage of time, and does not involve any criticism of the plaintiff, in circumstances where there is no limitation period which applies to a claim of the kind she seeks to bring,” Justice Bowskill wrote in her decision.

“The consequence, that this decision results in the plaintiff not being able to pursue her claim, weighs heavily.

“However, the time that has passed, since the events in question, and the consequences of that passage of time for the availability of witnesses and evidence, is such that a fair trial is not possible and, accordingly, the exceptional step of granting a permanent stay of the proceedings is warranted.”

Ms Willmot appealed that decision on seven grounds however all failed and her appeal was dismissed.

She was ordered to pay the state’s appeal costs.