Pedophile disperses fortune to thwart victim

A child abuse survivor awarded the nation’s highest civil damages payout has been denied one cent after his wealthy perpetrator divested assets worth millions of dollars to family and friends.

John Wayne Millwood, left, pleaded guilty in 2016 to abusing a boy over an extended period in the 1980s, causing him lifelong psychological problems. He served four years in jail.

A child abuse survivor awarded the nation’s highest civil damages payout has been denied one cent after his wealthy perpetrator ­divested assets worth millions of dollars to family and friends.

The victim, repeatedly abused over five years by former Launceston pathology manager and colonial art collector John Wayne Millwood, received a record $5.3m in civil damages last December.

Millwood, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to abusing the boy over an extended period in the 1980s, causing him lifelong psychological problems, served four years in jail.

On the same day Millwood was sentenced – December 7, 2016 – his victim-survivor, known in court as ZAB, lodged an application for civil damages.

That same day, Millwood – ­described by the trial judge as lacking any remorse and by a parole board as “narcissistic” – began to divest his assets.

Multiple properties and shareholdings, estimated by ZAB and his legal team as worth up to $8m, have been sold or gifted to family and friends; mystery surrounds the fate of Millwood’s art and ­antique collection, valued at $2m.

Millwood is now bankrupt and his shattered victim faces a long battle to claw back assets now in the hands of others.

“Clearly Millwood has cap­acity to pay,” ZAB, who by law cannot be named, told The Australian, “but he seems to think that in his case, payment of damages awarded by the Supreme Court is optional”.

Rob Sherrard. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“His contempt for the court and for me, the victim of his sexual abuse, is disgraceful. He is morally bankrupt,” ZAB said.

In 2019, directors of a company that owns pathology service buildings in Hobart and Launceston ignored written legal warnings against divestment of Millwood’s shareholding.

Millwood owned a 14 per cent stake in Realba Investments, the owner of properties in which Sonic Healthcare’s Hobart and Launceston pathology practices operate. Millwood managed the Launceston centre.

On August 15, 2019, the survivor’s lawyers wrote to Realba explaining the civil action and warning them “not to sell, transfer or otherwise deal” in Millwood’s shareholding held in his name.

However, on September 11, 2019, Realba director pathologist Mark Benjamin Prentice signed share changes that effectively saw Millwood’s shares – worth an estimated $4m – transferred to Mazus Holdings.

Mazus was owned and controlled by Millwood but is now owned by Milsone Pty Ltd.

Milsone has as its sole director Millwood’s daughter Sarah Kate Millwood and is owned by SM Siena, which is solely owned and controlled by Sarah Millwood.

On March 22 last year, half of Mazus’s Realba holding was transferred to Bradys Lake, which has Ms Millwood as sole director and is also owned by her SM Siena.

This transfer was signed by ­Realba director Colin John Jackson, a former rich-listed accountant and Sonic Healthcare executive who testified to Millwood’s “good character” at his sentencing. Millwood, his daughter, Dr Prentice and Mr Jackson did not respond to requests for comment; nor did several other Realba ­directors.

Sarah Millwood, through lawyers for one of her companies, told ZAB’s solicitors in September 2019 that she did not accept that she was “exposed to any judgment that your client obtains against Mr Millwood”.

Ross Hart. Picture: Patrick Gee

 ZAB has recently written to Sonic Healthcare urging it to “step in” by using any influence it has with Realba. ZAB has also asked Sonic to withhold rental payments to Realba commensurate with the relevant shareholdings.

“You must appreciate how morally reprehensible it would be if a convicted pedophile’s divestment of assets, supported by his … colleagues, were to deny compensation to child abuse survivors,” he wrote to Sonic, which is yet to respond.

The ownership of significant properties at 159 and 161 St John Street, Launceston, once owned by Millwood and worth $2.5m, has also changed since ZAB’s lawsuit was lodged.

Millwood owned 159 St John St for seven years until January 2017, when records suggest he sold it for $800,000 to Milsone – the company now ultimately owned and controlled by his daughter Sarah.

It was then sold a few months later, in June 2018, for $1.3m to ­Virgin Australia co-founder Robert Sherrard.

No. 161 was owned by Gospel Hall – a company owned and controlled solely by Millwood in 2016. But on December 7 that year – the day his victim lodged his civil damages claim – the company ­issued new shares.

The change effectively divested two-thirds of Millwood’s Gospel Hall shares to his daughter Sarah and to Millwood’s former partner, Sonia Ann Finlay, also known as Sam. This property was then also sold to Mr Sherrard in June 2018 for $1.2m.

Mr Sherrard, through his lawyer – former MP and Labor candidate for the marginal seat of Bass, Ross Hart – has declined to give ZAB any undertakings in relation to the properties, which he said he bought at “market rates”.

He “categorically” denies any knowledge or involvement in the divestment of Millwood’s fortune but has declined to detail what Mr Hart referred to as past “dealings” with Millwood.

The tourism entrepreneur has told ZAB’s lawyers he was introduced to the titles by a third party “unrelated to Mr Millwood or the two vendors”.

“That person indicated … for Mr Sherrard to deal with (realtor) Ian Singline,” Mr Hart said in a ­letter.

ZAB said Mr Singline attended court proceedings in support of Millwood. Mr Singline said he “can’t remember” whether he did so or not; nor could he recall the circumstances of the sale of the two St John St properties in 2018.

“I can’t answer anything,” he said, blaming his age and fading memory. “I’m 70-odd.”

Ms Finlay, who described herself as a friend of Millwood, denied any involvement in divesting his assets but declined to answer ­detailed questions.

“I don’t know anything about this,” she said. “I’m not discussing anything. It’s nothing to do with you.”

In 2018, Millwood gifted his half-share in a beach house with Ms Finlay to a man believed to be Ms Finlay’s son, Duncan Thomas Alexander Finlay.

The three-bed room imitation weatherboard home with a large deck at Low Head, in Tasmania’s north, likely to be worth well over $500,000, was owned by Millwood and Ms Finlay until February 2018.

Land title documents suggest Millwood’s half-share was transferred to Duncan Finlay for “$0.00 – natural love and affection”. Mr Finlay did not respond to requests for comment.

A four-bedroomed Launceston home in Frederick St, owned by Millwood from May 2016 to January 2017, was in that month transferred to Millfin, owned by Ms Finlay and Sarah Kate Millwood, for $340,000.

It was sold less than four months later to an unrelated party for $503,000.

ZAB is bracing for a long fight, using Bankruptcy Act provisions, to claw back Millwood’s divested assets. His lawyers have taken a keen interest in $1m-plus properties bought by Millwood friends or family members since 2016.

He urges anyone who has benefited to assist with his quest for the compensation that Chief Justice Alan Blow said “would be unjust” if he did not receive it.

“Do family and friends of a convicted pedophile have a moral obligation to ensure that the victim receives justice and restitution?” ZAB said.

“I would say they do.”