A court has awarded a woman abused by her high school teacher in the 1990s $2 million in damages.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Katrina Faye Munting filed a civil claim for damages in the Supreme Court in 2021 against the state of Tasmania and Marcus Pollard - a former science teacher at Rose Bay High School.
During the trial last year, Ms Munting's lawyers claimed that the Department of Education was liable because of the failure of the then-school principal, Rodney Radford, to stop Pollard.
Her lawyers claimed that Mr Radford did not adequately supervise Pollard or prevent the abuse and also failed to report him to the police or his bosses at the Department of Education once he became aware of the illegal relationship between Ms Munting and Pollard.
Ms Munting also testified that she had been forced to turn down a position at the University of Tasmania because Pollard was employed there.
Acting Justice David Porter announced his decision on Monday. He found in favour of Ms Munting and awarded her damages for loss of earnings potential, superannuation, and interest.
Mr Pollard in 2020 pleaded guilty to persistent sexual abuse of a young person and was later sentenced to three years' prison, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
While he was named as a defendant in the civil case, he did not participate in it other than claiming that his liability should have been shared fairly with the state.
His claim was rejected in Monday's judgement.
Speaking after the decision, Ms Munting said the decision was "about justice, about gaining our power back".
"No amount of money will ever take away the damage that was done all those years ago by my abuser and the enablers - people who stood by and allowed it to happen," she said.
"I want perpetrators to know that ... if getting caught, conviction or jail is not enough, maybe losing everything in a civil case is."
She also said the court finding had "finally" delivered accountability to the state for its "failings".
"For him being one of their employees, and for them being bystanders, they knew and did nothing," she said.
"Todays judgement will never take away the pain, never take away the nightmares.
"But it will help me gain the mental health services that I require, and make life-changing decisions that will allow me to improve my mental health."
The judgement included damages for 'loss of earnings capacity' of $1.38 million, damages for pain and suffering and aggravated damages of $275,000, and additional aggravated damages of $15,000 against the state, and exemplary damages of $25,000 against Mr Pollard.
However, the court also ruled that the state had no direct liability for Mr Pollard's illegal actions.
Justice Porter ruled that the state of Tasmania was "fully indemnified" by Mr Pollard - meaning that the former teacher will be solely responsible for paying Ms Munting the main damage award of $1.38 million.
However, the state is still liable to pay aggravated damages of $15,000 in respect of Mr Radford's lack of action.
Including all aggravated and exemplary damage charges, Justice Porter ordered a payout of $2,016,135.
