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Private schools, churches pushed to brink with child abuse claims

Historical child abuse claims costing millions of dollars each are pushing our state’s top private schools and churches to the brink— and there’s no end in sight.

Wesley College and other top private schools have paid millions to abuse victims. Picture: Mark Stewart
Wesley College and other top private schools have paid millions to abuse victims. Picture: Mark Stewart

Leading private schools and churches are being pushed being to the brink due to spiralling numbers of historical child abuse claims costing up to $3m each.

Schools around the state are dealing with hundreds of new abuse victims, along with old settlements, which are being overturned in favour of multimillion-dollar payouts.

Catholic churches are selling property to raise funds and schools are budgeting millions to help victims.

However, groups both are admitting they can’t accurately predict the extent of their current or future exposure.

The Christian Brothers, which is handling pre-2007 claims for a range of Catholic schools including St Kevin’s College, Parade College and St Patrick’s College in Ballarat, has spent $363m in legal expenses and litigation claims in the past five years alone.

This includes $90m in 2021.

Christian Brothers auditors have admitted they face “the risk of further actions and claims arising for which no reliable estimate can currently be made as to the ultimate liability that may arise”.

St Kevin’s College. Picture: Sarah Matray
St Kevin’s College. Picture: Sarah Matray

In total, 22 per cent of Christian Brothers were accused of abuse over many decades.

Legal breakthroughs for victims have seen the number of potential claimants rise exponentially, with no time limitations for claims and long-held legal defences used by churches no longer valid.

A spokeswoman for Victoria Police’s SANO taskforce said it has a number of “active and ongoing” cases against schools.

One lawyer alone, Judy Courtin, has cases against 41 Victorian schools including Wesley College, Caulfield Grammar, Xavier College, Whitefriars, Assumption College, St Patrick’s College in Ballarat and Melbourne Grammar.

Ms Courtin said most “are litigated and some will end with an informal settlement conference with the institution”.

Schools overly exposed include Geelong College, which in 2021 paid a 46-year-old Victorian man $2.7m, following a $1m payout to a 63-year-old in 2019.

Principal Dr Peter Miller said the school had a “survivor-focused response” and would “engage with people who suffered abuse for as long as it takes”.

Lawyer Michael Magazanik, partner at Rightside Legal, said such schools “may think the worst is in the past, but people keep coming”.

He said there were no active current writs but the school “continued to work to support people harmed”.

Lawyer Judy Courtin has cases against 41 Victorian schools including Wesley College. Picture: David Geraghty
Lawyer Judy Courtin has cases against 41 Victorian schools including Wesley College. Picture: David Geraghty

Geelong Grammar, which had a whole chapter devoted to it in the Royal Commission, had one paedophile, Philippe Trutmann, with 40 victims alone.

Lawyer Michael Magazanik, partner at Rightside Legal, said such schools “may think the worst is in the past, but people keep coming”.

“People who have never made claims in the past are coming forward and getting multimillion-dollar settlements,” he said.

Child abuse survivor and advocate Michael Advocate is supporting victims from a number of schools, including Haileybury College.

He said a recent key breakthrough was that “secondary victims such as family members can claim compensation”.

Lawyer Angela Sdrinis has represented victims against St Kevin’s College, Geelong Grammar, Geelong College and Xavier College, and said anyone who settled prior to 2018 “can come back and try again”.

“Before the Royal Commission it took people an average of 27 years, and now we are seeing young people coming forward,” she said.

Xavier College is estimated to have at least 250 known historical child sex abuse victims, although Ms Courtin said only five per cent of all victims report to police.

De La Salle College has just been sold to the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools (MACS), in part because of its historical child abuse claims, which include 328 allegations made between 1980 and 2015.

A 2021 court judgment against MACS led to $1.9m paid to a former altar boy sexually abused by a Catholic priest. The claim was vigorously defended by Archbishop Peter Comensoli.

A former Wesley College student won $3m in court last year after he was abused by two teachers in the 1970s. The school budgeted $750,000 in 2021 for claims but notes the

outcome could be “significantly different” from the provision listed.

Other schools with fresh claims include Salesian College Rupertswood, St Francis Xavier Primary in Ballarat and St Kevin’s College.

Trinity Grammar in Kew had four paedophile employees in the 1970s and paid $1m to former student in 2020.

Marist Brothers schools with victims include Marcellin College, Lavalla Catholic College and Catholic College Sale, formerly St Patrick’s College, which had about 60 victims alone.

Other schools noting the potential for future claims include Lowther Hall and Ballarat Grammar.

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/private-schools-churches-pushed-to-brink-with-child-abuse-claims/news-story/bbc773dd8d9a9e5ea75a3cd90fd07240