Alleged sexual abuse victim of defrocked priest Louis Daniels says he’s lost $3.76m in earnings

A man who says he was sexually abused as a child by defrocked priest Louis Daniels says he has lost millions of dollars in past and future earnings due to ongoing trauma.

Stained glass at St John's Anglican Cathedral, Parramatta. Jesus/Christianity/religion

A Tasmanian man who says he was sexually abused by defrocked priest Louis Daniels claims he has suffered a total $3.76 million of lost past and future earnings.

The man says but for the child sexual abuse he allegedly suffered during the 1980s, he would have already earned an additional $927,000 so far – and would have earned millions more before his retirement.

On Friday, a lengthy civil trial waged by that man against the Tasmanian Anglican Church finally came to an end in the Supreme Court.

Former Anglican priest Louis (Lou) Victor Daniels.

The man’s barrister Lesley Whalan SC detailed a list of the diocese’s “egregious and disgraceful” conduct in dealing with the man’s case when he complained to them in the 1990s.

The disgraced Daniels, who resigned from the church in 1994 and was officially deposed in 2002 amid his criminal convictions over sexual offending against other children, has not been charged in relation to the man’s allegations.

Although the church admits the conduct, it says a deed of release the man signed in the 1990s in return for $34,000 paid by the former priest should stand.

Ms Whalan said the church acted fraudulently and unconscionably when the 1994 agreement was made, falsely claiming it was not involved in the contract.

She said the man’s requests for Daniels to be removed from contact with children were ignored despite telling him the priest would be acting in a “reduced capacity”.

To the contrary, she said the priest was promoted to the job of deacon of Deloraine, then archdeacon of Burnie.

Louis Daniels speaks at the Royal Commission

Ms Whalan said the church had been aware of Daniels’ conduct, even before he allegedly abused the man in question, but made repeated attempts to “minimise and rewrite history”.

Barrister Maree Norton, acting for the trustees of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania, said the evidence didn’t support a finding that the church “created an apprehension” that it wasn’t involved in the 1994 settlement.

She also argued the diocese shouldn’t have to pay exemplary – or punitive – damages as a result of Daniels’ alleged criminal acts.

Justice Michael Brett appeared to agree.

“They shouldn’t be punished for what Daniels did, they should be punished for letting him do it,” he said.

“The main thing for us is the church knew about it and left him in place … to continue with his course of conduct.”

The judge reserved his decision to deliver at a future date, adding it required “thorough consideration”.

‘A deal with the devil’

A MAN who claims he was sexually abused by Anglican priest Louis Daniels said he signed “a deal with the devil” when he agreed to $34,000 from the priest in return for his silence.

Now in his 50s, the man has recently waged a Supreme Court of Tasmania battle against the trustees of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania.

He wants that 1994 deed of release overturned – and he wants to be compensated for the losses he’s suffered as a result of the alleged sexual abuse, as well as his psychiatric injuries.

The diocese, which admits the child sexual abuse occurred, says the deed of release the man signed in 1994 should stand, continuing to release the Anglican Church from “any and all claims, disputes and further proceedings”.

On Wednesday, the man’s barrister Lesley Whalan SC delivered her final submissions before Justice Michael Brett, after a two-week trial held in September.

She said the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, only signed the deed of release when he was emotionally exhausted, after having no psychological support, and when he’d even considered whether “it was worth continuing with life”.

Ms Whalan said the man, as a result of his distress, had failed subjects at school and university, became isolated from others, and felt his academic research was going nowhere.

She said he spent four days in the wilderness to assess his life and whether or not he “was at the end”.

Ms Whalan said the 1994 agreement was unconscionable, in that the diocese was in a position of advantage over the man at the time, and that the deed should be set aside.

“It knew he suffered psychiatric damage and required treatment for that damage,” she said.

Ms Whalan said the diocese also claimed at the time that Daniels denied the assaults, and told the man he would need to be assessed by the church’s psychologist – a prospect he found intimidating.

“The diocese was protecting Daniels and the diocese was also protecting the diocese,” she said.

A man says a deed of release he signed in 1994, in which he agreed not to take further action against the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania for sexual abuse he’d suffered as a child, should now be overturned.

The man had not only wanted compensation, but also an apology and for Daniels to be removed from contact with children.

But those requests “disappeared” from the demands, with the “exhausted plaintiff” accepting the $34,000 – paid by the now-former priest himself.

Ms Whalan said the man felt he’d “done a deal with the devil”.

“The denial of the sexual assaults means the plaintiff either has to prove that in any proceedings that follow, or settle the claim. Those were the stark options available to him at that time,” she said.

She said the deed should be overturned and the man should receive a “significant” damages sum, given his loss of potential earnings and career.

Ms Whalan also said the abuse, which he thought about “every day” had led to a persistent depressive disorder, a generalised anxiety disorder, chronic moderate post traumatic stress disorder and a chronic anxious avoidant personality disorder.

Daniels has not faced criminal charges over these allegations.

The trial continues.

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