Western Bulldogs appeal abuse survivor’s record $5.9 million payout
An AFL club’s appeal against a multimillion-dollar payout to a child sexual abuse survivor will be heard as a second claim emerges against the Western Bulldogs.
Adam Kneale, 51, took legal action against the Melbourne-based club formerly known as Footscray after he suffered abuse between 1984 and 1990 at the hands of fundraising volunteer Graeme Hobbs.
Jurors hearing the case in 2023 found the club negligent and awarded $5.9 million in damages, the highest amount given by a jury to an abuse survivor in Australia.
It was also the first against an AFL club.
Reports of a second claim against the club emerged on the eve of the appeal to be heard today.
“My clients are both determined to see this through to the end – it’s been a long road,” lawyer Michael Magazanik told AAP.
He launched a fresh appeal for information concerning the pedophile Hobbs, who admitted sexually abusing Kneale, served a little over a year in jail and then died in 2009.
“Given the Western Bulldogs’ determination to defeat these claims, we have now restarted our search for other people and potentially other victims of Hobbs who may know something about his activities when he was at the Western Bulldogs,” Magazanik said.
The Western Bulldogs were contacted for comment.
In a statement to News Corp Australia, the club said it intended to defend the matter, noting it treated “any allegation of this nature with the utmost seriousness and care for all involved”.
Hobbs trained under-19s at Footscray Football Club and was a prolific volunteer fundraiser for the club.
He first sexually abused Kneale when he was 11 or 12 at an administration building at the club’s home ground in 1984 after being introduced to the boy through a schoolmate.
As Kneale got older and Hobbs continued to abuse him, the now-dead pedophile told him more about what he and others did.
This included gatherings at farmhouses and “swap meets” where pedophiles would bring their “best boys” to be abused by different people.
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