(AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC [Sydney, Australia]
March 11, 2025
By Loretta Lohberger
In short:
Callum* is suing the Christian Brothers in the Tasmanian Supreme Court over physical and sexual abuse he alleges he experienced while a student at Hobart’s St Virgil’s College.
The Christian Brothers, who ran the school at the time, argue they should not be vicariously liable for the actions of the teachers and a volunteer sports coach named in the case.
What’s next?
The civil trial is expected to run for two weeks.
A man who alleges he was sexually and physically abused while a student at a Catholic school in Hobart has told a court he felt like he was “going to die” during one of the alleged assaults.
WARNING: This story contains details of alleged sexual abuse which may cause distress.
Callum*, now aged in his 50s, was a student at St Virgil’s College from 1977 until 1981.
He is suing the Christian Brothers, the religious order that ran the school at the time, in the Tasmanian Supreme Court.
Callum on Tuesday told the court he was sexually abused twice by Stephen Randell, a sports coach at the school.
He said the first sexual assault happened on a school camp in 1979 in the back of Randell’s car, and the second at his family home on the night of his 12th birthday later that year.
“I didn’t know what to do, what to say — I just remember how painful it was for me,” Callum told the court about the first alleged assault.
“It made me feel like I was going to die,” he said.
“I didn’t know what the f— had happened to me.”
Callum told the court Randell “invited himself” to his family home on the night of his 12th birthday.
He said after the meal while other members of his family were cleaning up, Randell “took me to my room” and sexually assaulted him.
Sexual assault support services:
- Sexual Assault Support Service (Tasmania): 1800 697 877
- 1800 Respect national helpline: 1800 737 732
- Sexual Assault Counselling Australia: 1800 211 028
- Bravehearts (support for child sexual abuse survivors): 1800 272 831
Other helplines:
- Lifeline (24-hour crisis line): 131 114
- Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636
- Tasmania’s Victims of Crime Service: 1300 300 238
- CLAN Care Leavers Australia Network 1800 008 774
Callum told the court Randell “disappeared from my life” after that.
He told the court he felt “abandoned”.
“He would give me the special attention and I felt like he was my friend,” he said.
Callum told the court that up until 1993, his memories of Randell had been positive, but it was in 1993 that he recalled the abuse.
“I recalled the beatings, I recalled the camp and I recalled the bedroom incident,” he said.
Callum’s lawyer, Bruce McTaggart SC, said Randell’s position at the school was “opaque”.
“He acted as sports coach but also as an assistant teacher … he was never a registered teacher during the relevant time,” Mr McTaggart said.
‘I felt shocked, I felt dirty’, Callum tells court
Callum told the court he met Father Phillip Green in 1979.
He said he had interactions with Green as part of school masses.
“He was a monsignor father so we had to treat him differently. He was like a special priest,” Callum said.
He told the court Green sexually abused him after one of the school masses.
“I felt shocked, I felt dirty, I felt used. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, I was scared.”
Green and Randell have both previously been convicted of sexual abuse of children.
Green died in 2014.
‘Culture of fear’
Callum is also alleging he was subject to “harsh and frequent” corporal punishment, Mr McTaggart said.
Mr McTaggart told the court of a “culture of fear” at St Virgil’s at the time.
“St Virgil’s had a room that was known among students and staff as the ‘crying room’,” Mr McTaggart said.
It was in that room, the court heard, that corporal punishment was administered.
Callum alleges he was physically abused by a lay teacher Tom Burke, and three Christian Brothers — a Brother Doolan, Brother Tom Edmunds and Brother Trevor Parton. He told the court he also received corporal punishment from Randell.
He told the court that on one occasion Brother Edmunds was so violent “I remember feeling like he’s going to kill me”.
Callum told the court his life “didn’t go very well” after his 12th birthday, and he spent some nights sleeping on the streets and drinking with other homeless people.
He said he finished high school at his local public school and passed most subjects “at a low level”.
The court heard Callum has also struggled with alcohol and drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder throughout his life since the abuse.
Mr McTaggart said the Christian Brothers were vicariously liable for the three Christian Brothers, as well as for Burke and Randell.
Vicarious liability is the responsibility an employer has for the wrongdoing of employees.
The Christian Brothers say they should not be vicariously liable for the actions of those men, citing a recent High Court decision that ruled a priest — and, by extension, a brother — is not an employee of the church.
The Christian Brothers’ barrister, Jack Rush KC, told the court the organisation denies it was negligent and “do not admit either the sexual abuse or the physical abuse by Randell” that has been alleged.
“The evidence, we say, will disclose multiple versions of events,” Mr Rush said.
The civil trial, before Justice Stephen Estcourt, is expected to run for two weeks.
*Name has been changed.