Teacher seeks damages from student victim

By Natasha Lee
9 News
April 14, 2014

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/04/14/19/09/teacher-who-abused-student-demands-victim-pay-legal-costs

A former teacher who sexually abused his student at a high school in the NSW Blue Mountains now wants his victim to pay his legal bills.

Mark Wurth was repeatedly abused at the Blue Mountains Grammar School by then-house master and geography teacher Neville Gilbert Betteridge in the 1970s.

"He was coming into the dormitory through the infirmary of a night and taking me from my bed back to his room," Mr Wurth told the ABC.

In 2004, Betteridge was convicted of two counts of indecent assault on Mr Wurth and given a three-year suspended jail term.

Seven years later, Mr Wurth decided to sue the Anglican Church Diocese, which ran the school at the time, and Betteridge for damages.

The church paid Mr Wurth an out-of-court settlement and Mr Wurth then offered to withdraw the action against Betteridge.

Mr Wurth was then shocked to receive a letter from Betteridge's lawyers demanding that he pay the former teacher's legal costs which almost totalled $20,000.

"I was just saying, 'You're joking, you know, like when does a victim pay a perpertrator's costs?'" Mr Wurth said.

"The settlement I got from the Anglican Church is just getting eaten away. It seems like the settlement was just here to feed the legal profession."

Betteridge declined to comment on the matter, but in a statement to the ABC his barrister Paul Glisson said that his client was entitled to seek costs.

"Mr Wurth has been compensated by the Victim's Compensation Tribunal and by the church and he has decided to bring an action against a 70-year-old pensioner with no assets," Mr Glisson said.

The Anglican Church is calling on Betteridge to drop his claim against Mr Wurth, describing his predicament as "absurd".