By Nigel Hunt
Adelaide Now
February 01, 2009
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24991519-2682,00.html
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| John Mountford departs Adealide in 2007. |
THE sex abuse compensation case involving St Peter's College and its former priest, John Mountford, has been settled for a record amount.
While the settlement terms are confidential, the Sunday Mail understands the school and its insurer paid the male victim – a former student – more than $500,000 in an out-of-court deal.
The settlement eclipses the previous highest payout in South Australia of $200,000 made to a victim of notorious pedophile Robert Brandenberg – a figure negotiated recognising evidentiary difficulties with some aspects of the claim.
The long-running St Peter's College case was settled in an out-of-court mediation between the victim, his lawyers and lawyers acting for the college and its insurer.
In the District Court on January 22, moves were made before Master Peter Norman to obtain a protection order, enabling the appointment of a trustee to oversee the future management of the payout.
However, while St Peter's has settled the claim, Mr Mountford maintains his innocence and has voiced concern at the actions of the school and its insurer, HIH.
When contacted via email, Mr Mountford said he was "surprised" that the claim had been settled and said he did not believe it should have occurred.
"It gives the impression in the public mind that I am guilty, which I am not," he states in an email.
He said he had instructed his lawyers to share information they had obtained with the school's insurer to defend the claim, which they had done.
". . . after being presented with some facts which would have been presented if the matter had gone to trial, I was informed that at the next mediation meeting they would make it clear that they would contest the truth of the allegations and allow the matter to proceed through the courts," Mr Mountford said.
"So, yes, I was surprised to hear that at the end of the day they had decided to settle without prejudice out of court, knowing as they do that we have extremely strong evidence."
In February, 2005, Mr Mountford was charged with the sexual abuse of the victim at St Peter's College in 1991 and 1992.
He was extradited from Thailand to face the charges but in August, 2007 they were withdrawn because of the victim's mental state.
The victim launched a civil claim against St Peter's College in 2006, but that stalled because of the criminal case.
A fresh statement of claim was filed in the District Court in July, following the breakdown of negotiations between the parties. The claim contained fresh allegations that both the college and the then Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide were aware of concerns about Mr Mountford's alleged conduct at a school in Papua New Guinea, prior to him being hired by St Peter's in 1990.
St Peter's College headmaster Philip Grutzner yesterday said the claim had "been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties with a pastoral care response being successfully applied by the school".
"As you would expect, there is a confidentiality clause as part of the settlement, and so St Peter's College is not able to discuss the nature of the settlement," he said.
"The school will continue to uphold very high standards in relation to student protection and staff professionalism."
When asked about the conflict between the settlement and Mr Mountford's continuing denial of any wrongdoing, Mr Grutzner said "the school is delighted the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties".
Mr Mountford said in his emailed response to the Sunday Mail that he had not ruled out taking his own legal action against the victim, but said that he did not have the money to do so.
"There was no trial, twice aborted and charges dropped, so I was not allowed to publicly test his allegations in a court of law," Mr Mountford said.
"I spent my life savings defending myself and was very keen on a trial as we had amassed a huge amount of evidence.
"If I sued him and won, then I am happy to give every cent of it away to a charity nominated by your newspaper. I would like the public to know that I am innocent of his false allegations."
Both the victim and his lawyer, Peter Humphries, of Duncan Basheer Hannon, declined to comment on the settlement and Mr Mountford's comments.
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