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Read MoreA landmark $1 million settlement for a Rightside Legal client with the Christian Brothers will lead to many more claims by Western Australian survivors.
Paul Bradshaw, 74, was abused at Castledare Junior Orphanage and Clontarf Orphanage in the 1950s and 60s by Brothers Lawrence Murphy, Bruno Doyle and Christopher Angus, who are all dead.
Mr Bradshaw, who bravely took on the Christian Brothers despite being terminally ill, reached a settlement on Thursday with the Trustees of the Christian Brothers. He is the first person to claim damages under new WA laws that remove the time limit for compensation in such cases.
Mr Bradshaw cried outside court, saying he had lived on the street most of his life and did not want his family to do the same.
“I’m just hoping now that this has been settled and I can get on with my last six months in peace,” he said.
“I will die happy now knowing that I can care for my family.”
Rightside Legal partner Michael Magazanik described it as a landmark case and said his firm was working on about 60 other similar matters in WA.
Mr Bradshaw said it was never about money.
“I just wanted the apology of the Christian Brothers.”
Mr Bradshaw’s claims of abuse were twice dismissed as a child and when he later told a judge about it he was labelled a liar and put in a psychiatric hospital, Mr Magazanik said.
In the 1990s, Mr Bradshaw was also involved in the prosecution of Brother Murphy, but the case was eventually dropped and he died without facing justice.