A master woman accused of annoying four children at the end of the 1970s has argued that there was no duty under the social standards of time that prevented her from having sex with students.
That court considered that the relevant law of the seventies, which was repealed in 1984, was applied only to the men who abuse children.
The four former students launched civil procedures against the Government of Nueva Gales del Sur in search of compensation and were paid $ 2.5 million in agreements.
The State, which has recognized that it failed to comply with men, is now chasing Lam, looking for judicial orders that you can pay a significant part of that money.
She has denied any sexual activity, but also argued that even if it happened, social standards during the 70s did not prevent her from having sex with students.
On Wednesday, the state lawyer, David Lloyd SC, told the Supreme Court of NSW that despite changing the opinions, the teachers who slept with children were still seen as indecent in the 1970s.
“She owed that duty and clearly that duty was violated,” Judge Ian Harrison told Judge.
Lloyd argued that the abuse of the four students had occurred, saying that direct evidence corroborated the accusations.
“How the hell is said, in the case of Mrs. Lam, that all this is invented … it is not clear,” he said.
Men, under the interrogation, all denied each other or invent the accusations of a financial payment or help explain infidelities in their own marriages, said Lloyd.
Lam was accused of multiple acts of abuse in 1978 and 1979, including sex with students in a personnel, in the classroom, in their unit and behind the stage during a fox school production.
Supposedly flirted with school students, making inappropriate comments about their genitals and sexual activities.
One of the students said they told him to go out a window and for a drainage pipe after his then girlfriend broke into a classroom where he was having sex with Lam.
The teacher threatened to expel the girl the next day and began to laugh when she remembered how her underwear had been on the floor while arguing with the student, according to judicial documents.
Another student who was allegedly abused said that he was intimidated in the recess courtyard by a child who told him to stop spreading rumors about Lam.
The court could make an inference that the then teacher ordered bullying, Lloyd said.
When another school teacher saw someone who seemed that Lam hugged a child in his lap in the staff, the other teacher filed a complaint with the director.
However, the complaint was nowhere, Lloyd told the court.
“Her answer, according to her, was derogatory,” he said.
The State did not carry out adequate investigation into the accusation that could have discovered greater abuse and turned out that Lam was fired before causing additional damage, said Lloyd.
No report of that complaint or investigation by the school of any accusation had been discovered, the court was told.
Lam has denied that you have to pay any of the $ 2.5 million agreements and has questioned the reasonableness of the amounts paid by the Government.
Lloyd argued that LAM should deliver more than half of the total settlement since he committed a “more serious game” of the standards owed by sexually abusing children.
The audience continues on Thursday.
Support is available in 1800 respect (1800 737 732) and the National Sexual Abuse and Reparation Support Service 1800 211 028.
