The Department of Education faces a wave of legal claims by former students abused by the paedophile principal of a western suburbs primary school, who preyed on children for another nine years after officials failed to properly investigate complaints of appalling misconduct.
Four former students of Braybrook Primary School recently received $5 million in legal settlements after they were sexually assaulted or photographed by former principal Richard George Ross.
Lawyer Michael Magazanik, of Rightside Legal, warned the department to brace for further litigation after a string of inquiries from former students allegedly abused by Ross, who was principal of the now-defunct school from 1969.
The department has issued an unreserved apology for Ross’ abuse of students under its care, but did not comment on its failure to investigate reports from parents and police that Ross photographed a naked girl in 1980 – nine years before he resigned.
“We deeply regret, acknowledge and apologise for the harm caused by Richard Ross during his time as principal at Braybrook Primary School – no one should experience the devastating impacts of child sexual abuse,” a department spokeswoman said.
“We encourage anyone who has experienced any form of abuse as a current or former student at a Victorian government school to report it to both the Department of Education and Victoria Police, so perpetrators can be held to account and victims can access the support they need and deserve.”
In 1989, Ross abruptly resigned as principal when detectives from the child exploitation unit uncovered in his office more than 3000 explicit images of 16 children, along with 100 rolls of unexposed film hidden in a filing cabinet.
Ross was found guilty of the sexual penetration and indecent assault of an 11-year-old boy in 1990, but was handed a suspended sentence, which caused outrage at the time.
He died in October 2022, at the age of 92, while under police investigation over allegations of other abuse involving children.
However, the full extent of his predatory behaviour has only recently come to light.
A statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court last year alleged Ross had systematically groomed, photographed and repeatedly raped a student and several other boys during his 20-year tenure as principal.
In 1980, Ross founded a community garden at the former primary school, which was recognised with several government awards, but gave him regular access to students out of school hours. It is alleged in legal documents that Ross used the horticultural project to groom his victims and then offered them money to pose for photographs in the school’s darkroom.
The plaintiff, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, claimed he and several other boys were sexually assaulted in the darkroom, in Ross’ office and at his former home in Williamstown.
Many of the specific allegations made against Ross in court documents are too graphic to publish.
“The plaintiff together with other boys who did gardening duties at the school attended Ross’ house about 30 to 40 times a year … Ross invited the boys in, made them have a shower naked, and observed the boys via a two-way mirror.
“Ross regularly drugged the plaintiff and other boys using a sedative which Ross had put into cups of Milo and subsequently sexually abused the plaintiff and other boys,” according to the statement of claim.
The civil case was recently resolved just days before it was due to go to trial, when the Department of Education offered the plaintiff $2 million plus all legal costs.
The man, now aged in his 50s, told this masthead he had suffered for decades before finding the courage to pursue legal action against the government.
“What that criminal scumbag did to me has hung over me for decades,” he said.
“I helped the police with their investigation in the 1980s, identifying victims for them. But I couldn’t bring myself to face a courtroom at that time. But now, all these years later, I’ve been able to. I want the kids I went to school with to know that there is justice if you fight for it,” said the former Braybrook Primary School student.
Magazanik said his client could have escaped the horrific abuse and decades of psychological trauma had the Department of Education responded appropriately to the initial complaint against Ross in 1980.
“It is unbelievable that he was allowed to keep teaching, and abusing children – and costing the state government millions of dollars – for nearly a decade, after a mother told police and education authorities that her daughter had been photographed naked,” Magazanik said.
“We are in discussions with a number of men and women with strong claims because the failings of the department are so obvious.”
He accused the department of again turning a blind eye to the same institutionalised violence and predatory behaviour that occurred at Beaumaris Primary School and several other government schools between 1960 and 1999, which was the subject of a Victorian inquiry.
In 2024, the board of inquiry found the Department of Education had made “a series of repeated, systemic and self-reinforcing failures”, which included a culture of prioritising the reputation of schools and teachers over the safety of children.
The report found there had “been no systemic reviews led by the department to understand the scope and scale of historical child sexual abuse in government schools from 1960 to today”.
Convicted paedophile Vincent Henry Reynolds, who taught at state primary schools across north and central Victoria, was one of the teachers identified in the report. His offending over three decades forced the department to pay up to $34 million in compensation to dozens of survivors.
Reynolds was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2019, after pleading guilty to sexually abusing 38 children.
In 2024, the department also paid a record $8 million to a survivor of notorious paedophile Darrell Ray, who taught at Beaumaris Primary School in the 1970s, and was found by the board of inquiry to have abused up to 60 children.
Ray, who had previously been jailed for abusing students in his care, died late last year, aged 82. He was facing fresh charges over historical sex crimes at the time.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
