Investigation shows 'lack of oversight and accountability,' says Abigail Davies of Slater & Gordon
Slater & Gordon has announced that it initiated proceedings against the Department of Education of Western Australia in connection with alleged historical child sexual abuse at Geraldton Secondary College.
Founded in 1939, Geraldton enrolls over 850 students and is located 424 kilometres outside Perth. Being a public secondary school, it falls under the supervision of the WA Department of Education, which employed the two alleged abusers in the late 1990s.
The firm is acting on behalf of a 40-year-old male client, who alleged that a former female teacher and a male school counsellor sexually abused him over a three-year period when he was a student in Geraldton in the late 1990s. Allegedly, the teacher repeatedly sexually abused him starting when he was 13 years old and introduced him to the counsellor, who continued this abusive cycle.
“The prevailing theme we’ve seen in our investigation is a lack of oversight and accountability,” said Abigail Davies, Perth-based special counsel focusing on abuse law, in a media release from Slater & Gordon Lawyers. “Our client was left feeling powerless by a system that was meant to educate and support him, but instead became an instrument of abuse and shame.”
The alleged abuse profoundly affected the mental health of the client, who felt unable to speak up for decades due to his fear that people would disbelieve and ridicule him, given that his abusers were a woman and a well-regarded mental health professional, said Davies in the firm’s media release.
“Due to the systematic and historical nature of the allegations, we believe there could be other survivors from Geraldton Secondary College who were abused by either, or both, of these perpetrators,” Davies added in the firm’s media release.
The practice areas of Davies include abuse claims and institutional abuse claims, according to her profile on the firm’s website. She has been practising law for more than 25 years, with her legal career commencing at Blake Dawson Waldron, a national law firm.
She also served as legal counsel and company secretary at Barrick Gold of Australia for over 10 years, as a litigation lawyer at the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, and as an assessor for the Anglican and Catholic churches.
Davies also worked at the State Solicitor’s Office and mediated and determined legal disputes as a senior sessional member of the State Administrative Tribunal from 2011–17.
She has been a non-executive director for the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science since 2016. She was also a non-executive director for the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia and a board member for EMTECH, a not-for-profit helping people with disabilities obtain and maintain employment.
Davies earned her master of laws degree at Melbourne University in 2013 and bachelor of laws degree at University of Western Australia in 1993.
