Survivor of sexual abuse at St Joseph’s College Geelong awarded $1m+ settlement

A survivor of sexual abuse at a prestigious Geelong school has been awarded a settlement of more than $1m, which he says will be “life-changing”.

St Joseph's College Newtown

Another survivor of childhood sexual abuse at St Joseph’s College Geelong has been awarded upwards of $1m in a milestone settlement, with a witness coming forward crucial to the case.

The survivor was just 12 years old and in year 7 when he was targeted by teacher John Coogan in 1977.

Coogan, who is now deceased, abused children throughout the 1960s and 1970s during his time as a teacher at St Joseph’s College.

He was later imprisoned for five years for 17 counts of indecent assault on boys aged 10 to 15 occurring between 1962 and 1983.

The survivor, who did not want to be named, said the settlement would be life-changing, and had given him a sense of closure regarding the traumatic time.

“If the school had taken action when they heard of the complaint my life would have turned out very different,” he said.

Principal lawyer at Arnold Thomas and Becker Jodie Harris, who represented the abuse survivor, said this settlement marked the first time the law firm had been able to find a witness to confirm complaints had been made against Coogan at the time.

“This is the first time we have been able to locate a living witness who was able to confirm she made a direct complaint to the school about Coogan’s conduct,” she said.

“She (the witness) met with the principal of the school in 1976 and (said) that she had expressed concerns about Coogan’s sexual interest in boys.”

St Joseph's College Newtown

Ms Harris said the Trustees of the Christian Brothers, which operated and had responsibility for the Newtown school, consistently denied that there had been any complaints of abuse relating to Coogan in the 1970s.

“The school failed to act on these allegations and as a result Coogan continued to offend and to abuse other children,” Ms Harris said.

“This resulted in additional compensation in the hundreds of thousands, bringing our client’s total compensation to well in excess of $1m.”

Ms Harris said those working on previous settlements with the school had heard unconfirmed allegations of a complaint regarding Coogan.

“So it was critical to our investigations to find the witness,” she said.

Ms Harris said the Trustees of the Christian Brothers would pay damages to the survivor.

By locating and speaking with this witness, Ms Harris said they were then able to seek exemplary damages for their client, which were “designed to punish the defendant”.

“We are pleased to have achieved justice and a significant settlement for our client,” she said.

Other survivors who have received settlements include St Joseph’s abuse survivor Chris Pianto, who was awarded $1.25m.

Another survivor, who was abused by Coogan multiple times in 1978 when he was aged just 13, was awarded $1.2m.

The Geelong Advertiser attempted to obtain comment from St Joseph’s College Geelong.

Originally published as Survivor of sexual abuse at St Joseph’s College Geelong awarded $1m+ settlement