WA Education Department sued over alleged historical child sexual abuse

A plaintiff law firm has commenced proceedings against the West Australian Department of Education over a purported “lack of oversight” regarding alleged historical child sexual abuse.

Plaintiff law firm Slater & Gordon has officially begun proceedings regarding alleged historical child sexual abuse that took place at Geraldton Secondary College in the late 1990s. The secondary college, located 424 kilometres outside of Perth, Western Australia, is a public school founded in 1939 and enrols more than 850 students.

Being a public school, Geraldton falls under the supervision of the West Australian Department of Education.

Slater & Gordon legal counsel in abuse law and Perth local Abigail Davies said the firm is representing a 40-year-old male client who suffered alleged sexual abuse over a three-year period when he was a student at Geraldton in the late 1990s. This alleged abuse was perpetrated by a former female teacher at the secondary college, as well as a male school counsellor.

“We represent a client who alleges they suffered repeated accounts of sexual abuse by a female teacher, which started at the age of 13. Our client also alleges that the teacher then introduced him to a male school counsellor, who continued the abusive cycle,” Davies said.

“The abuse profoundly impacted our client’s mental health. The fact that his initial abuser was a woman and the other a well-regarded mental health professional left him feeling unable to speak up for decades, fearing he wouldn’t be believed or would be ridiculed.”

As Geraldton is listed as a public school, the continued employment of the two alleged abusers falls upon the Western Australia Department of Education, which Slater & Gordon claims had a “lack of oversight and accountability”.

“The prevailing theme we’ve seen in our investigation is a lack of oversight and accountability. Our client was left feeling powerless by a system that was meant to educate and support him, but instead became an instrument of abuse and shame,” Davies said.

“Due to the systematic and historical nature of the allegations, we believe there could be other survivors from Geraldton Secondary College who were abused by either, or both, of these perpetrators.”

The plaintiff firm has called upon other survivors or witnesses of the alleged child sex abuse to reach out to Slater & Gordon Lawyers.