Province admits liability in 1970s sex abuse case

More than 40 years after he was sexually abused at a St. John’s youth detention centre, a 56-yearold man got an admission from the government Wednesday that he didn’t get the protection he needed.

When the case of “John Doe” was called in Newfoundland Supreme Court Wednesday morning, the province’s lawyer told Justice Carl Thompson the government is admitting responsibility.

“The province will be consenting for liability in relation to any damages,” David Rodgers said.

It was in response to an application filed by John Doe’s lawyer, Lynn Moore, who represented the man in the courtroom.

Her client was sexually abused by a prison guard at the facility between 1970 and 1973 when he was in his early teens and was a ward of child welfare.

The guard, Cyril Noseworthy, was charged and convicted of gross and indecent acts in 1974.

He was originally sentenced to 30 days in prison, but later got a year-long jail term after the Crown appealed the sentence.

Moore said her client was being held at the Pleasantville youth detention centre in St. John’s under the Juvenile Delinquent Act at the time, as a result of committing minor offences, such as stealing food while he was in foster care.

“We had a system for a child who needed protection (only) to be put in a prison and then sexually assaulted in a very invasive way by a prison guard,” she said.

But Moore said her client was also sexually abused while in foster care and she has also filed an application seeking liability from the government in relation to that case.

Now that the government has publicly admitted liability in one of the cases, she hopes it will move the foster care case along quicker and be resolved.

“We’re hoping we’re going to be able to convince the government that they’re liabile there as well. But if not, we’re ready to go to trial to prove it,” Moore said.

Moore said the foster care system in the 1960s and 1970s in this province was “horribly broken,” and that children who were in care were often left in foster homes for long periods of time without any visits from a social worker.

“In this case, we know there was at least one other male youth who complained he was sexually assaulted in the foster home they were living and the governement is unable to find the file of that foster home,” she said.

“I believe we’re going to be able to prove that the government was negligent in how they administered the foster care and they’re liable for it.”

Moore said the impact of the sexual abuse on the man has been devastating.

She said the man has had a difficult work history, with few long-term employments, as he had a problem with authority, which often got him in trouble at work.

“He couldn’t talk about (the abuse) for years. He felt he wasn’t being listened to when he com- plained about the sexual assault in the foster home. He felt like he wasn’t valued,” she said. “He said when he was taken from his home and brought into foster care, he was flown from the west coast to the east coast.

“Then things went horribly wrong,” said Moore, adding that her client was also physically abused in foster care. “He just had a really, really difficult time and, in many ways, (was) deeply wounded.”

Today, she said, he doesn’t work , while his girlfriend has a low-paying job.

“They go periods of time when they don’t have enough to eat,” Moore said.

She said the man only recently came forward about the sexual abuse more than 40 years ago, but Moore said that’s not uncommon.

“He wasn’t a person who had a great deal of resources or power or ability to take action. We know people who are victimized as children often take decades or perhaps their whole lifetime to recover from that, and to get to a point where they want to do something about it,” she said.

“In this case, our client did complain about the sexual assaults that occurred in foster care and nothing was done. The sexual assaults at the youth facility were brought to the attention of the authorities because the offender actually wrote a letter to my client in which he discusses some of these sexual activities.

“So it seems like they were only prepared to act when they had an admission from the offender. He later confessed.”

When asked what damages he will claim, Moore said they haven’t decided yet.

“It’s very difficult to get reasonable compensation for sexual abuse because it’s hard to put a number on it,” she said.

Moore said the courts in Canada seem to suggest $350,000 is the maximum someone can get for pain and suffering. However, she said due to the trauma suffered, sometimes a person is unable to work, so there may also be a claim for lost income.

But she understands it could take years to get through the court system. “My law partner, Andrew Martin, says it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” she said.

“I believe we’re going to be able to prove that the government was negligent in how they administered the foster care and they’re liable for it.” Defence lawyer Lynn Moore