G v Svensson

[2007] QDC 262

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

G v Svensson [2007] QDC 262

PARTIES:

G

Applicant

v

KENNETH ROY SVENSSON

Respondent

FILE NO/S:

2208 of 2007

DIVISION:

Civil

PROCEEDING:

Application

ORIGINATING COURT:

Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

2 October 2007

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

22 March 2007

JUDGE:

O’Sullivan DCJ

ORDER:

I order the respondent to pay the sum of $20,000 to the applicant by way of criminal compensation

CATCHWORDS:

Criminal compensation – mental and nervous shock

SOLICITORS:

Legal Aid office for the applicant

No appearance for the respondent

1. The applicant was born on 23 December 1977 and seeks compensation in respect of offences committed between 1 January 1994 and 1 January 1995.

1. The respondent pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent treatment between 31 December 1990 and 1 January 1993 and one count of sodomy between 3 July 1990 and 1 January 1993. 

1. The applicant’s education was adversely affected by the abuse at the time.  He felt very isolated and often wagged school subsequently.  He was not able to resume his education because of a lack of confidence and self-esteem which he says is directly related to the conduct of the respondent and others in the paedophile ring.

1. The applicant swears to enticement by the respondent and how he fell prey to him.  As is so often the case with these matters, his confidence and trust in the respondent led him to believe then, and it would seem even now, that he was to some extent to blame for what happened.

1. The sodomisation of the applicant caused both emotional and physical problems, and [indeed] he needed to attend at a hospital due to problems with his bowels.  It is not possible for me to say whether this problem was the direct physical or emotional result of the violent anal penetration, but on any view of the matter there is a link.

1. He deposes:  “Sometimes I get a severe ache in the area of the rectum.  This comes and goes.  I think this is because of the abuse.”  From that it is clear that his problems continue, notwithstanding the passage of time since the offences were committed.  Whether this is a combination of physical and emotional causes is for a medical specialist to say.  Suffice for me to say, as a Judge determining criminal compensation, that I am satisfied that the conduct of the respondent made a material contribution to these continuing problems of the applicant.

1. The applicant was forced to have tests concerning sexually transmitted disease because the respondent did not use condoms.

1. The applicant deposes to becoming less open after the offences, especially with his mother.  Fortunately, this has been rectified in recent years.  He is still unable to talk to his father about these matters.

1. He deposes to the offences having an impact on his sexual relationship with his current partner.  He has difficulties with sexual intercourse or even with comfort from his partner.  Thoughts of the respondent’s conduct remain in his head.  Understandably, his partner has on occasions became frustrated and they have on occasions separated and continue to do so from time to time.  He deposes:  “I am a very confused male now in my life and have no direction.  I am having difficulty with my current heterosexual relationships.  I blame Ken.”

1. The applicant now has a one-year-old child, and he is ‘very protective’ of her.

1. An added aspect of this matter was that the respondent managed to persuade the applicant to approach other children to attend at the places where the paedophile ring operated.  He felt guilty about that at the time, and still does.  He ‘very briefly thought about suicide’, but fortunately his friends and family were supportive, and now he is more stable because he has a child.

1. The applicant deposes to the respondent being ‘very sleazy; dirty, open about sexual acts, and coming up to him and grabbing him on the nipples’.  He offered him cars, alcohol, CD’s, a remote control car, and rides in his Porsche.  He also showed him his Video Image business.  The applicant found these very attracting and enticing at the time, but now feels disgusted.  The conduct of the respondent, and others in the paedophile ring, has led to his trust in people being ‘greatly diminished’.

1. The applicant feels he ‘missed a huge chunk’ of his life, including sexual experiences with people his own age.

1. He has difficulty in explaining himself because of fear of being criticised or judged.  At the time of the abuse by the respondent, he felt he was a nobody, dirty and being taken advantage of, and this led to depression and anxiety.  It also led to alcohol and marijuana abuse in order to forget the pain.

1. He says that he still feels depressed, and he still has vivid images of the offences in his mind.  He says: “I don’t think the images have got less over the years.  Sometimes it is every day and then sometimes every second day but the abuse images never go away.”

1. He consumes speed which he says was directly attributable to the trauma of the sexual assault.  This, of course, led to problems due to the speed itself.

1. He has had problems at work when he has ‘repetitive vivid scenes’.  He is a detailer and has had a number of jobs.  He has had particular problems because if he

   
   

   re-experiences the offences he can break down and he has therefore found it very hard to maintain steady employment and, as a result, has been in employment for less than half the time he might otherwise have been.

1. I have a report from Dr Barbara McGuire dated 8 November 2006.  This refers to the applicant first being sexually abused by a ‘unspecified old man when he was nine’.  She considers that this distorted his view of what was sexually appropriate and rendered him very vulnerable to the incidence of sexual abuse of which the respondent was a part.

1. The cumulative effect of the conduct of the respondent was to reinforce the applicant’s negative self-concept, and he feels he is ‘marked for life and can never feel normal’.  Dr McGuire notes that at the interview with her, he was tremulous and appeared agitated.  She says that it is highly probable that his underachievement at school, and his incapacity to stay very long at a job, are related to the abuse.

1. It appears that all his interpersonal relationships have been significantly affected, including that with his partner and his daughter.  She says that the guilt he has experienced since the offences has led to a negative self-view and he sees himself as stigmatised.

1. Dr McGuire does not give a formal psychiatric diagnosis, but it emerges quite clearly from her report that the applicant has suffered greatly as a result of the conduct of the respondent.

1. If the claim were being made under the current Act, he would be towards the top range for mental or nervous shock. It is not. It is an application under the Criminal Code, and I am therefore limited to an award of $20,000. If it was a common law claim, it would be much higher than the maximum award.

1. I order the respondent to pay to the applicant the sum of $20,000 by way of criminal compensation, together with the costs of the application.