Haileybury College facing legal action from estate of woman whose son suffered sexual abuse

The elite private school faces legal action from the estate of a woman whose son suffered sexual abuse in the 1960s.

Haileybury College faces legal action from the estate of a woman whose son suffered sexual abuse in the 1960s. Picture: David Geraghty

An elite private school faces legal action from the estate of a woman whose son suffered sexual abuse in the 1960s.

Child sex abuse victims’ campaigner Michael Advocate is in the County Court after ­negotiations with Haileybury College broke down, seeking to recover up to $1m in damages for nervous shock to the victim’s deceased mother.

The family has asked that they not be identified.

The woman’s son attended Haileybury in the late 1960s and settled a claim with the school in 2019, believed to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The man claimed injury, loss and damage after a teacher hit him on the bare bottom and legs in front of the class with a fibreglass cane.

He also claimed that on a school camp in 1967 he was stripped naked and 10 boys plus the same teacher lay on him and hit him repeatedly on the stomach. He said he had a torch stuck down his throat on cadet camp, and had his head forced down a hole used as a toilet, which led to a nervous breakdown.

The estate of the man’s mother, who died in May 2020, is now pursuing the claim of nervous shock on the mother’s behalf.

“It was a huge burden and tremendous shock that her only child was sexually ­assaulted and abused, causing irreparable damage to him throughout his life,” Mr Advocate said.

Before her death the woman told Mr Advocate: “I didn’t make big sacrifices to pay substantial college fees over many years for my son to then be sexually abused, ­molested and alienated.”

It comes as the Supreme Court has ruled that the father of a former choirboy who was ­alleged to have been sexually abused by George Pell can pursue civil action against the cardinal and the church.

Legal experts say the case will allow other similar claims from family members of sexual abuse survivors to come to court.

“Child sex abuse of a student can also cause major personal injuries to the parents and family of the victim, that’s been obvious for decades” Mr Advocate said.

“We now have a precedent that a member of the family has rights, and this puts to bed the question of whether it’s possible to sue.

“We hope this will also pressure other colleges to refund fees out of good faith.”

The impending action comes as new benchmarks are being set for historical childhood sexual abuse cases, including a payout of $2.7m to a student from Geelong College.

Michael Advocate – a pseudonym – is a survivor of child sexual abuse himself and the founder of advocacy group Victim Justice.

Haileybury College declined to comment.