Australia, Aug. 4 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 4:

1. On 27 March 2025, the plaintiff, to whom the pseudonym PMD5 has been given, commenced proceedings by filing a Statement of Claim.

2. The Statement of Claim claimed damages from the State of NSW, as defendant, as a consequence of sexual abuse which the plaintiff alleged occurred to him between 1986 and 1999 at the hands of his father. The plaintiff claims that the defendant, being the organisation responsible for child welfare, owed to him a duty to take reasonable care to avoid causing him particular harm, which was known to the defendant.

3. As yet, no defence has been filed to that claim.

4. It is clear from the plaintiff's Evidentiary Statement, which was also filed on 27 March 2025, that the abuse upon which the plaintiff relies occurred in the Greater Sydney Area.

Notice of Motion

5. On 31 March 2025, the plaintiff filed a Notice of Motion which included a claim for the following order:

"5) Pursuant to section 4 of the Felons (Civil Proceedings) Act 1981 (NSW), the plaintiff be granted leave to commence proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales with such orders made nunc pro tunc in the form of the sealed Statement of Claim annexed and marked 'A'.

6) That the costs of this Motion be costs in the cause."

6. In support of that Notice of Motion, the plaintiff filed an affidavit sworn by a solicitor, Ms Herbert, who had the day-to-day carriage of the matter.

Evidence

7. I am satisfied from the content of that affidavit that the proceedings are not an abuse of process, and I am satisfied that there is a prima facie ground for the proceedings. The defendant did not contest a conclusion to that effect.

8. Paragraph 10 of Ms Herbert's affidavit says:

"The plaintiff instructs he is currently incarcerated in Victoria for rape and theft charges. The plaintiff's Sentence and Remand Report dated 18 November 2024 is annexed and marked 'Annexure B'."

9. The Sentence and Remand Report ("the Report") is described as a comprehensive prison history and is a record of Corrections Victoria. It is not easy to decipher. It appears that on 3 July 2020, the plaintiff was remanded in custody in Melbourne. On 6 July 2020, the plaintiff was sentenced to a total of 2 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 months commencing on 10 July 2018 for two charges.

10. It next appears that the plaintiff was charged with an offence of rape, and one of theft, on 7 July 2020. He seems to have remained in custody until he was sentenced on 30 November 2021 to a total of 5 years and 4 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 3 years with respect to the charge of rape and the charge of theft. There was also a further charge of theft for which, on the same day, the plaintiff was sentenced to a total of 7 days imprisonment to be served concurrently with the earlier sentence.

11. Although it is not clear what date the sentence was to commence, the Report suggests that a total of 514 days pre-sentence detention was to be allowed as a credit against that earlier sentence.

12. The Report shows that, on the date it was printed, 18 November 2024, the plaintiff remained in custody in Victoria.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197d2816e6add9056efc8ba9)

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