sam chalmersSex abuse victim awarded $2.5m damages
November 27th 2010 08:33
A victim of a paedophile music teacher has been awarded almost $2.5 million in damages by a judge who found he had been "crippled" by his psychiatric injuries.
Gary Maxwell Featherstone, who lived at Chatswood in Sydney's north, pleaded guilty to 12 sex offences involving indecent acts against four boys aged between 11 and 14 in the 1980s.
He is serving a minimum jail term of seven years.
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On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum awarded $2,405,912 in compensation to one victim, referred to in her written judgment only as XY for legal reasons.
Justice McCallum said it was not clear how Featherstone "manoeuvred himself" into the role of a "special friend", or what checks were undertaken by government officers who entrusted the boy into his care on weekends.
The boy, who was a ward of the state, said he was sexually assaulted by Featherstone about 300 times over a number of years from the age of 11.
On the first night he stayed at Featherstone's home, he was shown a pornographic movie and made to perform sex acts which he was told later were "a secret", the judgment says. If only these guys would just visit some melbourne brothels instead of abusing people...
On another occasion, Featherstone took his victim to a nudist camp and fondled him as they swam naked in a dam.
Gary Maxwell Featherstone, who lived at Chatswood in Sydney's north, pleaded guilty to 12 sex offences involving indecent acts against four boys aged between 11 and 14 in the 1980s.
He is serving a minimum jail term of seven years.
Advertisement: Story continues below
On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum awarded $2,405,912 in compensation to one victim, referred to in her written judgment only as XY for legal reasons.
Justice McCallum said it was not clear how Featherstone "manoeuvred himself" into the role of a "special friend", or what checks were undertaken by government officers who entrusted the boy into his care on weekends.
The boy, who was a ward of the state, said he was sexually assaulted by Featherstone about 300 times over a number of years from the age of 11.
On the first night he stayed at Featherstone's home, he was shown a pornographic movie and made to perform sex acts which he was told later were "a secret", the judgment says. If only these guys would just visit some melbourne brothels instead of abusing people...
On another occasion, Featherstone took his victim to a nudist camp and fondled him as they swam naked in a dam.
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