Education department facing lawsuits over historic child sexual abuse

Arthur Henry Eaton was convicted in 1996 of 25 counts of indecently assaulting nine boys at Warrnambool West Primary and Derinya Primary in Frankston.

Historic court documents show Eaton sexually abused a then 12-year-old male victim during a private reading lesson at the Warrnambool school in mid-1992.

The abuse was reported to the school at the time.

Arnold Thomas & Becker associate lawyer Georgia Sneddon said the report resulted in Eaton being shuffled to different schools, including Derinya Primary School where he went on to sexually abuse at least four other children.

The law firm has filed several civil law claims against the department on behalf of five men.

Ms Sneddon said the department's failure to remove Eaton as a teacher, despite knowing of his propensity to abuse students, led to at least four other children being sexually assaulted.

"Shifting the problem to another school has led to immeasurable harm," she said.

"We can see from the cases of our clients that there have been repeated failures on the part of the Department of Education and its staff to identify risks, to mitigate those risks, to support the students who had been offended against and to protect other children at the school from the abuser."

Ms Sneddon also suspected complaints were made about Eaton prior to 1992 given his "prolific offending", length of employment as a teacher and the department's failed action following the Warrnambool West complaint.

In a writ filed to the Victorian Supreme Court, the law firm said Eaton repeatedly sexually abused the Warrnambool boy in 1991 and 1992, including in the class room and after swimming lessons at the Warrnambool Olympic Pool.

It said the abuse was caused by the negligence of the department and had led the victim to suffer significant mental illnesses.

In another writ filed to the same court, the firm said the department failed to protect children by failing to remove teachers with a propensity to engage in sexual abuse.

The cases could see the department forced to pay millions of dollars in compensation.

'Considerable change'

A Department of Education spokesperson confirmed claims had been received from victims of Eaton.

"These claims relate to abuse between 1991-1996 when Eaton worked at Warrnambool West Primary School and Derinya Primary School.

"We are not aware of allegations made against Eaton prior to May 1992."

The spokesperson confirmed Eaton resigned on March 26, 1996.

"We are not able to prevent employees from resigning if they take this decision before disciplinary proceedings are completed," they said.

The spokesperson said the way in which the department responds to allegations of sexual abuse had changed "very considerably" since the 1990s.

"Given civil legal action in relation to Eaton is currently underway, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further so as not to prejudice the proceedings."

Anyone with information should contact Arnold Thomas & Becker's Warrnambool office on 4510 8900 for a confidential discussion or email enquiries@arnoldthomasbecker.com.au.