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	Compo for Church Sex Assault Victim By Geesche Jacobsen Wollondilly Advertiser January 8, 2008 http://wollondilly.yourguide.com.au/articles/1157653.html?src=topstories A woman has been awarded compensation for repeated sexual assault by a former pastoral assistant and youth leader at a Baptist church. Louise Audet, 41, was awarded $45,000 for the abuse, which started in 1982, when Cheryl Groth, 51, was her year 10 teacher at Picton High School. The abuse continued for about four years when Groth introduced her to Baptist churches where Groth had become involved in youth groups and later as a pastoral assistant. Ms Audet first complained to the church 20 years ago, but believes it failed to act. When she was later told the case could not proceed in the criminal courts, she took civil action against Groth, which finished last month. The District Court found that Groth had sexually assaulted Ms Audet and had tried to penetrate her digitally while she was allegedly falling in and out of consciousness. Ms Audet, who came from a dysfunctional family and had been sexually abused by family members, confided in her teacher and told the court that Groth had told her she was special and encouraged her to call her "Mum". Judge Anne Quirk found Ms Audet was "a vulnerable, lonely and abused young person." "Given the knowledge which [Groth] possessed of [Ms Audet's] background, of her physical and psychological abuse, [she] should have been on notice that [Ms Audet] was one of a class of persons particularly vulnerable to psychiatric damage in the event of further abuse," Judge Quirk said. In about 1987, Ms Audet complained to a pastor. Meetings were convened with church elders, but no apparent action was taken by the Baptist Union until 1999, when its Sexual Abuse Complaints Committee considered several complaints against Groth. By that stage Groth worked as a missionary in Indonesia. The committee recommended that Groth write letters to those she had harmed, receive counselling and "that appropriate safeguards be established regarding her future ministry."
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