LEGAL action against the Department of Education is being pursued by victims of a paedophile who worked at a Frankston South primary school in the 1990s.
Arthur Eaton worked at Derinya Primary School in Frankston South as a teacher between 1993 to 1996. A legal firm representing his victims alleges he abused at least four children during his time at the school, and only began working there after a complaint was made against him at his previous workplace in Warrnambool West.
Georgia Sneddon, an associate at Arnold Thomas & Becker, is representing five of Eaton’s victims during legal proceedings. She said that the decision to move Eaton to Derinya Primary School had caused “immeasurable harm”.
“This practice of moving teachers was more concerned about the reputation and well-being of the teachers and schools than the students,” Sneddon said. “The Department of Education knew that Eaton was a risk to the welfare of children as there had been a complaint made to a teacher at West Warrnambool Primary School about Eaton abusing our client in 1992. At the time, the Education Department failed to remove Eaton as a teacher, despite knowing of his propensity to sexually abuse pupils from the school.
“The Department’s decision to move Eaton to another school has meant that at least four other children at Derinya Primary were subjected to abuse by Eaton – we are representing four former students from that school who all were sexually abused by the teacher. Given our understanding of the prolific nature of Mr Eaton’s offending, the length of his employment as a teacher in Victoria, and the failed action made by the Department following the Warrnambool West complaint, we suspect complaints may have been made regarding Mr Eaton, even prior to the complaint made in 1992.
“We can see from the cases of our clients that there have been repeated failures on the part of the Department of Education and its staff to identify risks, to mitigate those risks, to support the students who had been offended against and to protect other children at the school from the abuser.”
In a statement, the Victorian Department of Education said it was aware of the allegations. “We have received claims from survivors of abuse by Arthur Eaton. These claims relate to abuse between 1991-1996 when Eaton worked at Warrnambool West Primary School and Derinya Primary School. We are not aware of allegations made against Eaton prior to May 1992,” the statement read.
“The way in which the department responds to allegations of sexual abuse has changed very considerably since the 1990s. We can confirm Arthur Eaton resigned on March 26, 1996. We are not able to prevent employees from resigning if they take this decision before disciplinary proceedings are completed. Given civil legal action in relation to Eaton is currently underway, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further so as not to prejudice the proceedings.”
The ABC reported last week that Eaton also worked at Belvedere Park Primary School in Seaford in the latter half of 1992. He was arrested in March 1996 and later convicted of 25 counts of indecently assaulting nine boys across Warrnambool West Primary School and Derinya Primary School.
Historical abuse victims seek action
Picture: AdobeStock