Adelaide Sex Abuse Victims' Privacy Exposed by Catholic Church Legal Request
By Sean Fewster
THE Catholic Church wants every medical record of seven intellectually disabled young people who were molested by a church volunteer, in order to fight million-dollar compensation claims, a court has heard. Eight people abused, as children, by paedophile Brian Perkins have lodged civil claims against the church and St Ann's Special School. They have asked the District Court to award them damages because the school and church failed to protect them from Perkins' predatory crimes. Between 1987 and 1991 he video-taped, photographed and sexually assaulted 36 students at the Marion school, where he worked as a volunteer bus driver. He fled interstate and was not arrested for his crimes until 2002. Perkins was jailed a year later and has since died in custody. The parents of Perkins' victims are seeking between $1 million and $4 million compensation each. Now in their 70s, the parents want to ensure their now-adult, intellectually disabled children will continue to receive one-to-one care. Today Peter Humphries, for the victims, said one of the eight cases had been settled, a second was ongoing and six were about to be formally filed with the court. He warned all those matters were likely to become "protracted" due to a request by the church's lawyers. "I've been asked, by defence, to obtain medical histories for all plaintiffs from birth to the date of the sexual abuse," he said. "That is, typically, a period through to 14 years of age. "Unfortunately, that is going to be a very long process and there's nothing I can do about that." He said the claims should be adjourned for a lengthy period. "These plaintiffs are now all in their 30s, so it's going to be really hard to get these records," he said. Master Peter Norman adjourned the claims until November.
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