I was treated with sincerity and compassion

I am another victim of child abuse. At the age of 10, the person to whom I was entrusted for a safe education was also a serial abuser. The school that I attended tried to hide this person by transferring him to a different school. Unfortunately, this only further enabled him until he finally resigned and disappeared into anonymity.

Like many others, I buried this abuse and got on with life, until a chance meeting at an old boys’ reunion revealed the full extent of what he had done and the terrible consequences his abominable actions had caused to so many other children.

After 50 years, this man was finally bought to justice. He pleaded guilty to all the charges against him (18 in all, though how many others remained silent or have passed away remains a mystery).

I sought redress through the Federal Government’s redress scheme and waited several years with no communication whatsoever during that time. Frustration at the lack of action, reminiscent of what happened 50 years ago and a desire to see some form of change in the bias of the system that favoured the big institutions left me with two choices: to remain silent and carry the burden as I have been doing for many decades or to seek help.

Koffels law firm and Marea Hickie in particular, were exceptional in their efforts to facilitate this. I was treated with sincerity and compassion. The channels of communication were always open. Marea constantly reassured me of the validity of what I was doing and the justice for others that will hopefully result from my and others’ similar actions.

Hopefully, this testimonial will encourage and enable others to come forward and lend their stories and actions to facilitate a much-needed change and provide clarity on the crimes that have been hidden by institutions for decades and have left many victims depressed, mentally scarred and socially isolated.