Former student seeks $30m in damages from Brisbane Grammar School for abuse by paedophile school counsellor Kevin Lynch

A former Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) student says he wants his allegations of abuse against a former school counsellor heard in court, in a landmark case where he is seeking $30 million in damages.

Key points:

David Welsh is one of more than 130 victims of school counsellor and paedophile Kevin Lynch

Mr Welsh says he is raising money for a fighting fund for legal fees and to help other victims mount cases

Brisbane Grammar School says the matter is "subject to legal proceedings and the school can't comment on detail"

David Welsh said he was one of more than 130 victims of paedophile Kevin Lynch, who raped and sodomised teenage boys while they were in the school's care.

Established in 1868, the elite private school is a non-denominational day and boarding school for boys in years five to 12, and is Brisbane's oldest secondary school.

Mr Welsh, 51, said he went from a smiling happy Year 11 boy to quiet and sullen after allegedly being abused by the counsellor in the mid-1980s.

Mr Welsh did not tell anyone at the time.

"There was a fear I would not be believed — it makes me extremely angry and I want justice," Mr Welsh said.

Mr Welsh said the abuse had left him with PTSD, depression and anxiety after using alcohol and gambling to try to ease the torment and shame.

Once a high-flying investment banker with Goldman Sachs earning $1 million a year in London, Mr Welsh is now penniless, living with his parents and on a disability pension.

"I have got nothing to lose — I do not have a wife, kids , reputation, money — there is nothing more they can take from me, so I want to take them to court," Mr Welsh said.

"[Lynch] was a teacher at the school — these guys were gods — this was [former headmaster] Max Howell's Brisbane Grammar School where people did what they were told," Mr Welsh said.

"More than anything you are so embarrassed and ashamed — you are not going to tell anyone because you do not want to admit it happened."

'The life it could have been'

The former high-flyer said he was raising money for a fighting fund for legal fees and to help other victims mount cases.

He said he no longer recognised the boy in the photo wearing his school uniform who used to laugh and smile every day.

"It is the life it could have been, I guess", Mr Welsh said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-29/qld-brisbane-grammar-school-student-david-welsh-30-million/100176056