Parents’ demand $85k elite school fee refund after son sexually abused

The parents of a man who was abused by a notorious pedophile counsellor while he was a student at Brisbane Grammar School say their demands for a $85,000 refund in tuition fees have been ‘arrogantly dismissed’.

Parents of a former high-flying banker who was sexually abused while a student at Brisbane Grammar School are demanding a refund of tuition fees totalling almost $85,000.

Jim and Rosemary Welsh have twice written to the elite college only to be “arrogantly dismissed”.

The couple has also accused Grammar of failing to offer their traumatised son a fair, timely settlement, which would avoid legal proceedings.

David Welsh, aged 15, as a Brisbane Grammar School student in 1984. Picture: Supplied

David Welsh, 52, was abused by notorious paedophile counsellor Kevin Lynch in the 1980s, causing chronic psychiatric conditions that forced him to leave his $1 million-a-year job as vice-president of Goldman Sachs in London 21 years ago.

Lynch suicided in 1997 after being charged with child sex offences, also committed at St Paul’s School in Bald Hills – which has refunded fees to victims’ families.

In May 2021, The Courier-Mail revealed David Welsh was mounting a landmark $30 million personal injury claim that threatened to bankrupt Grammar.

Speaking candidly from their Morningside home, his parents said refunding fees was “the least the school could do” and its refusal “flies in the face of natural justice”.

“David’s life is a total mess; it’s horrible to watch,” Mrs Welsh, 77, said.

“You don’t realise how damaging this stuff is; the school doesn’t live this daily, and we didn’t until David came to live with us three years ago and he told us what happened when he was a 15-year-old boy.

“We were horrified, obviously, but we didn’t fall to bits and scream or cry; we just said we’d do whatever we could to help him.”

Pedophile Kevin Lynch.

Mrs Welsh, a retired sales assistant, described David’s quality of life as “terrible”.

“He should have been a man with a good job and a family of his own but instead he’s on a disability pension and a cocktail of medication,” she said.

“Grammar has to realise that David is not going to let them go, and neither are we.”

Mr Welsh, a retired information technology professor at the University of Queensland, said the school’s approach to dealing with abuse victims was “the antithesis of care and compassion”.

“It produces secondary trauma for the victims and vicarious trauma for their families,” Mr Welsh, 78, said.

On November 5 last year, the couple wrote to each of the seven members of the BGS board of trustees, four of whom are appointed by the State Government as grammar schools are statutory bodies.

They wrote: “When we emigrated (from Northern Ireland) to Australia in 1984 we sent David to BGS with the expectation that his education there would set him up for a productive and rewarding career.

“Instead, it destroyed his life utterly … Clearly we didn’t get what we paid for! Regardless of the compensation due to our son, which the courts will determine, to our mind the very least the school should do for us is to refund us three years’ fees at the current prevailing rate of $28,230 per annum, totalling $84,690.

“Private education is a service like any other, and when the service paid for is not delivered the customer is entitled to their money back.”

Brisbane Grammar School. Picture: Richard Walker

In 2015, following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Anglican Church announced it would reimburse fees for all students who suffered sexual abuse at its Brisbane schools, including St Paul’s.

Brisbane Grammar School, backstopped by the State Government, has consistently refused, despite mounting pressure, including from some of the more than 140 victims who’ve settled abuse claims with the college.

Responding to the Welshes on December 7, the school said it would “continue with its existing approach to redress and compensation”, which included a personal apology.

Writing again to the school on January 22 this year, the Welshes said apologies were “of little value”.

“Their main purpose seems to be to make the school look and feel better,” they said.

“The choice of BGS for David will haunt us for the rest of our days.”

David Welsh (centre) with his parents Jim and Rosemary Welsh. Picture: Jamie Hanson

On February 16, the school replied, saying “further argument about the school’s position in respect of liability at the mediation will not help David, or the school, to resolve the dispute.

“I reiterate that, given the stage the claim has currently reached, the quickest and most efficient way to resolve the claim would be for David to take steps to commence appropriate court proceedings,” he said.

David Welsh said that after failed mediation and a “derisory” settlement offer, he was preparing for a compulsory conference, the final bid at resolution before taking the school to court.

He had commissioned an independent accountancy firm to calculate his earning capacity had he continued his career.

“I’m in a very fortunate position that I can demonstrate economic loss because I actually earned that million-dollar salary. It’s not as if I just said I’d love to work at Goldman Sachs – I did.

“And all three psychiatrists, including the one Grammar chose and paid for, have said my downfall is directly attributable to Lynch.

“Grammar thinks it’s Brisbane’s elite and can do whatever it wants, but as much as every day is painfully slow, like the whole process, all it does is harden my resolve because they are making me more and more pissed off.”

Child sex abuse survivor David Welsh. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Brisbane Grammar School headmaster Anthony Micallef said the school had “actively engaged with David Welsh and his legal representative to achieve a mediated outcome”.

“As this has not been possible, the fastest resolution now is for Mr Welsh to lodge proceedings against the school,” Mr Micallef said.

“This can only be done by Mr Welsh and this has been communicated to Mr Welsh’s parents.

“Over more than 20 years the school has actively responded to settle claims for damages for the personal injury incurred by those abused.

“After the Royal Commission hearings in 2015 the board considered and then resolved not to refund fees.”