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A former child abuse inquiry team leader has been awarded $1.8 million after a judge found NSW Police missed several opportunities to prevent psychological trauma.
Judge Judith Gibson on Monday found the former strike force lead suffered psychiatric injury when his attempts to seek counselling were not adequately met by senior officers after being routinely exposed to trauma while carrying out his job.
The man left the force in 2019 after developing chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and a substance abuse disorder, “medically attributed to the cumulative effects of exposure to numerous traumatic incidents encountered over the course of his career”.
Key to the case was the officer’s leadership of Strike Force Bilvo, set up in 2014 to investigate historical child sexual abuse crimes for the federal child abuse royal commission.
The strike force initially consisted of a handful of victims from the Parramatta Girls’ Training School for the period between 1950 and 1974.
But it “rapidly escalated” to more than 70 victims, the NSW District Court was told.
The former senior officer told the court he was “one hundred per cent dedicated to the victims” who would ring him at “any time of the day” including one who rang while “about to step in front of a bus”.
The court was told the man was noticeably struggling with his workload and personal life, and was commuting and working long hours.
Outside of work, he suffered anger outbursts, nightmares, an increasing reliance on alcohol, poor mood and insomnia.
In her findings on Monday, Judge Gibson found the officer disclosed he was struggling psychologically and required counselling but was denied access to any counselling from the NSW Police Force WellCheck program.
On multiple occasions, the senior officer requested psychological help, the possibility to be transferred to another case and sought additional officers for his team.
Any counselling he did receive was of a “sporadic” and “superficial nature” which “accorded him little assistance”.
The loss of the officer’s deputy on sick leave in April 2017 should itself have been a red flag to police, the judge said.
“Had the defendant’s servants or agents fulfilled their obligations to supervise the plaintiff and his team, these problems could have been addressed very early,” Judge Gibson said.
She also noted the former officer’s career would have continued as normal and not “spilled over into illness” if he had not been chosen to set up and run strike force Bilvo, which had an immediate observable effect on him.
Judge Gibson described the handling of the concerns as “a catastrophic failure at every level of the system”.
She ultimately concluded the man’s psychological injury caused him to cease work in August 2019 and ordered NSW Police to pay a total of $1,828,862.
He will be permitted to apply for interest.
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