‘That’s why it still hurts’: School abuse survivor says others turned a blind eye

People knew what was happening to a young Tassie boy each time his school principal took him out of class, but no-one ever spoke up. He’s now suing the state. HIS STORY >>

PEOPLE knew what was happening to Micheal Longden each time his school principal took him out of class, but no-one ever spoke up.

Everyone remained silent.

So for a long time, Micheal kept silent too.

He locked up the memories inside a “black garage” inside his mind, and tried as hard as he could not to open the “black door”.

Micheal Longden. Picture: Chris Kidd

But now, 40 years later, the former Moonah Primary School student is “pissed off” – even more with those that turned a blind eye than the man himself who abused him.

“The worst part was that everyone knew what was happening to me every time it happened,” he said.

“Everyone knew about it … that’s why it still hurts.”

The principal — Donald Dabner — died about six years ago, just a few years after Micheal finally told police what he’d done.

Micheal said the sexual abuse started about 1983 when he was in Grade 5 and got in trouble for swearing – and sent to the Dabner’s office.

That was the beginning of two years of regular abuse from a man the school children called “horsehead” behind his back – a sadistic character with a long face, a violent temperament, and a reputation for hitting students.

“He was a scary person, horsehead was his nickname. He was very loud, very strict, very nasty, very cruel,” Micheal said.

“I used to think of (the abuse) as a black garage that I could shut the door down, and never see it again.

“I just looked at that black door and tried not to open it, and run off in my own mind. It was for my own protection.”

Mick Longden. Picture: Chris Kidd

Eventually Micheal did face his past, first telling his friends, then telling the police – then returning to Moonah Primary to show officers where the abuse had occurred.

But when he returned to the school, Micheal got a horrifying shock when a staff member from the 1980s was still on-site, and knew exactly why the police had arrived.

“He said ‘is this about Donald Dabner and him touching kids?’” Micheal said.

“He said everyone knew about it … I felt ill.

“That was worse than it actually happening.”

With Dabner now dead, Micheal cannot follow through with criminal charges.

But he’s now taking civil action, and is about to lodge a claim against the state of Tasmania, which employed his abuser.

“I was good at school, I got put up a grade. Before all this happened, I was good at sport, excellent swimmer,” he said.

“If it didn’t happen, I’d love to know where I’d be in life.”

Micheal’s lawyer, Sebastian Buscemi, said he was currently researching Dabner’s employment and offending history, and that the pair planned to take the state government to court.

“His grooming and that pattern would suggest it wasn’t his first time,” Mr Buscemi said.

“It fits the profile of someone who’s got their method, tried and tested, and does the same thing, over and over.”

The full report of an independent inquiry into the Education Department’s responses to child sexual abuse was released last week, which confirmed known predators were allowed to continue teaching while allegations piled up around them.

The department will also be investigated in an upcoming Commission of Inquiry, which will also analyse child sexual abuse the Ashley Youth Detention Centre and Tasmania’s hospital system.

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