Ex-Brighton Grammar student alleges he was beaten by school teachers, principal

A former student of Brighton Grammar has launched legal action against the elite all-boys’ school, alleging he was left with welts and bruises after being caned by staff.

A former Brighton Grammar student has launched legal action against the school alleging he was a victim of violent corporal punishment by staffl. Picture: Penny Stephens

A former Brighton Grammar student has launched legal action against the school alleging he was a victim of violent corporal punishment at the hands of multiple teachers and the principal.

The schoolboy, who wished to remain anonymous, says he was left with welts and bruises after being unfairly targeted for multiple canings between 1965-1973 at the elite all-boys school.

He claims former principal Robert Rofe caned him on more than 25 occasions in one year for “little or no reason”.

He was then expelled in year 11 from the elite all-boys’ school after he punched Mr Rofe in self defence.

“It was hell knowing at some time in the next day or so I’d be belted with a cane so hard my arse hurt for more than a week after,” he told the Herald Sun.

“I still can’t help but flinch when I hear the swoosh of a golf club or fishing rod.”

Mr Rofe would allegedly belt the year 11 student for incidents such as not wearing a school cap while riding his bike to school and not having his blazer buttoned up in the quadrangle.

He was also hit for the behaviour of other students, such as whistling at a female librarian and swearing at a maths teacher, he claims.

It is alleged Mr Rofe also soaked the cane in salt prior to beating the schoolboy with it.

The schoolboy resorted to wearing a wetsuit under his uniform so he had extra padding during the beatings.

Mr Rofe, who was the principal for nearly three decades from 1967 to 1995, has a scholarship named after him at the school for his “outstanding contribution”.

“I hated going to school often,” the former student said.

“It would take a certain capacity to remove myself from reality to do it, which I had managed to develop … I was very conscious of the daily physical threat we all lived with.”

The alleged abuse started when he was just seven years old – by his year 2 teacher who would line him up at the front of the classroom and belt him, and former junior school master Mr Baddiley.

A former Brighton Grammar student says he ‘hated’ going to the school. Picture: Penny Stephens

Arnold Thomas & Becker lawyer Angela Di Carluccio said while this form of punishment may have been a common practice back then, the alleged abuse was “unlawful” and a “misuse of authority”.

“Instead of providing a safe environment for our client, they exploited their position of power,” she said.

“The teachers and principal were well-known among students at the school to be abusive and there should have been a mechanism to report such abuse.”

As a result of the abuse, the former student alleges that he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, depression, alcohol and substance use disorder.

He has also been rejected from several jobs throughout his lifetime on psychological grounds, including due to failing psychometric testing.

“I instructed my kids on how to defend themselves in great detail, from a young age,” he said.

“(I am) over the top when it comes to sedating my mind with alcohol or ‘substances’. They dull the pain and let me sleep.”

“This abuse has long-lasting effects and has altered the path of our client’s life,” Ms Di Carluccio said.

“While we can’t erase those impacts, he has the right to receive fair and proper compensation so that he can move forward with his life.”

Brighton Grammar declined to comment.

Students belted with the cane and subjected to other forms of violent corporal punishment by their teachers are among a new wave of historic compensation cases hitting the courts.

Law firms have seen an increase in claims and inquiries regarding schools that condoned extreme and excessive physical force on students to control them.

Victoria was the first state to ban corporal punishment in public schools in 1985. Caning was not abandoned in Queensland until 1989 and in New South Wales in 1990.