A momentous day was marked by the multi-million dollar settlement given to a survivor of child sexual abuse against the Western Bulldogs, an AFL team.
Adam Kneale, 51, filed a lawsuit against the Footscray Football Club—now known as the Western Bulldogs—after volunteer Graeme Hobbs, who was in charge of fundraising, mistreated him from 1984 to 1990.
A six-person jury in Melbourne’s Supreme Court declared the club negligent on Thursday after a four-week trial.
Adam Kneale sued the Bulldogs for sexual assault as a youngster, and the team was forced to pay him about $6 million.
The jury’s $5,943,151 damages award is the largest sum ever handed to an Australian abuse survivor and the first amount ever against an AFL team.
Legal fees will also be borne by the Bulldogs.
Michael Magazanik, the attorney representing Kneale, predicted that the verdict would cause “an earthquake for the legal system,” especially because the jury decided to pay $3,250,000 for pain and suffering.
“This is a landmark day for all abuse survivors,” he stated.
“In bringing his claim, and getting the result that he got, Adam has changed the legal landscape.”
Neale claimed he waited thirty years for the Bulldogs to accept his account of events.
“I believe there’s a lot of people that need to find the courage to come forward,” he stated.
“It’s something that only someone can do when they’re ready to do it, whereas I’ve been ready for a long time.”
At the age of eleven or twelve, Adam Kneale was first sexually assaulted by Hobbs, who he had met through a classmate.
The Bulldogs declared that “as expeditiously as possible” they would file an appeal against the jury’s decision.
“While the club firmly believes it did not breach any duty of care owed to the plaintiff, Adam Kneale, a jury determined otherwise,” a spokesperson for the club stated.
“Pending the appeal, the club will have no further comment to make.”
Hobbs was a volunteer fundraiser for Footscray Football Club, where he trained the under-19 team.
He met Kneale through a classmate and sexually assaulted him for the first time in 1984 at the club’s home pitch in an administration building. Kneale was 11 or 12 years old at the time.
Before a game, he would meet Hobbs in a stairway at the home stadium, give him some cash, and tell him to return at halftime.
The now-dead paedophile revealed more to Kneale about his and others’ mistreatment as he grew older and Hobbs persisted in abusing him.
Paedophiles would bring their “best boys” to these events, which included “swap meets” and farmhouse get-togethers, so that they might be mistreated by other persons.
Kneale knew he had to report Hobbs when his daughter was born at the age of 20, since he was assaulting other kids, even ones who were “not long out of nappies.”
In May 1994, Hobbs entered a guilty plea for the sexual abuse of Kneale, and the top page of the local newspaper featured the tale.
He was sentenced to at least 15 months in prison; he passed away in 2009.
He filed the civil lawsuit on the grounds that the Bulldogs were vicariously culpable for giving Hobbs preferential access to the team and for failing to contact him when his abuse came to light.
The Western Bulldogs testified during the trial that they were unaware of the offence.
A journalist approached the club in April of last year, bringing Hobbs’ crimes to the attention of former club president Peter Gordon, who testified in court.
Kneale said he felt vindicated at last and that addressing the court his story was cathartic outside of court on Thursday.
“I believe wholeheartedly that they knew what happened and failed to acknowledge to me the pain that I’ve endured,” he stated.
I hope the Bulldogs take this as a lesson, Magazanik added.
“Don’t let your volunteers sexually assault children, and if they do – face up to the consequences, try and make it right, don’t run and hide,” he stated.
“The Western Bulldogs now have six million reasons to regret their abysmal behaviour.”
According to a Bulldogs representative, Kneale “continues to carry as a result of the trauma he has experienced,” and the team is aware of this pain.
