Devastated sex abuse survivor outed to her family by government lawyers
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The Victorian Department of Education has launched an internal review and offered an unreserved apology after its external lawyers informed several members of a family that their sister had been sexually assaulted by a high school teacher in the 1970s.
Two siblings were unaware of the historical abuse perpetrated against their sister until they received a letter on May 24 from top-tier law firm Thomson Geer, which acts for the government department.
The letter signed by Thomson Geer partner Cameron Roberts said the firm was “acting on instructions from the Department of Education in its defence of a civil claim brought by a former student” who had attended a high school in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
“(The victim) alleges she sustained psychological injuries as a result of grooming and sexual abuse a then teacher of the school perpetrated against her, which commenced while she was a student,” the letter, obtained by The Sunday Age, stated.
“We are currently investigating (her) allegations on the state’s behalf, and those investigations include making contact with a number of potential witnesses.”
The unauthorised disclosure has forced the Education Department to launch an internal review and apologise to the victim and her family.
“We understand this incident has caused huge amounts of unnecessary hurt and suffering – and the department takes full responsibility for this mistake. We have issued a wholehearted apology to the victim and their family,” a department spokesman said.
The Department of Education has apologised after its lawyers informed several family members that their sister had been sexually assaulted in the 1970s.
The survivor of historical sexual abuse, who asked not to be identified, told The Sunday Age she had been further traumatised by the legal correspondence.
“That letter was devastating and caused a lot of hurt and distress in my family. One of my brothers was so upset it took him a week to get in touch and talk to me about what happened,” the woman said.
“I expected legal action to be difficult, but I’d never have imagined that the Victorian government would expose me, and what happened to me as a child, to my family.”
The civil claim was recently resolved and the woman received a confidential financial settlement.
Rightside Legal partner Michael Magazanik, who represented the woman in her case against the government, said he was appalled by the conduct of the department’s lawyers.
A spokesman for the Education Department did not directly respond to questions from The Sunday Age, but said it was making efforts to ensure it didn’t happen again.
“We strive to take a survivor-informed approach that responds sensitively to claims – we know the risk of retraumatising survivors is profound, and we’re reviewing our practices to ensure these kinds of oversights are never repeated,” the spokesman said.
“This should never have happened – and the Department of Education is profoundly sorry for the distress our mistake caused.”
A Thomson Geer spokeswoman and partner Cameron Roberts did not respond to requests for comment. Thomson Geer has on occasion represented The Sunday Age.
A letter sent to the survivor of historical abuse on June 29 from the executive director of the Department of Education’s legal division Annette Wiltshire confirmed Thomson Geer had received instructions to send the letter from the department’s in-house legal team.
Wiltshire told the woman the letter had been sent to her siblings “with a view to speaking to them about the impact the abuse has had on relationships with your family”.
Wiltshire offered an unreserved apology and vowed to “review our internal practices to ensure this does not happen again,” according to the letter.
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