THE lawyer who won $469,000 for Farrer bullying victim David Gregory from the Department of Education last Friday has already been approached by at least another four potential clients.
Romeo El Daghl told The Leader he had been approached twice while the matter was being heard and twice more since the case concluded on Friday.
It is not known if any or all of the approaches apply specifically to bullying allegations at Farrer.
The Leader has been approached by parents of students from other local schools who raised the possibility of suing the government over bullying allegations.
Mr Gregory had sought $2 million in compensation for the mistreatment he received.
The NSW Supreme Court was told he had been left with behaviourial problems that now made it very difficult for him to earn a living.The education department, which did not dispute the facts of the Gregory case and admitted it had breached its duty of care to Mr Gregory while he was at Farrer, has refused to be drawn on whether it anticipates a tidal wave of litigation.
The Leader had asked if the department expected further claims and if it intended to appeal the order to pay Mr Gregory $469,000.
“The Department of Education and Training is examining all implications of the judgement,” was the response.
Last Friday the department expressed regret about what had happened to Mr Gregory during his time at the school.
“The culture at Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School is now very different to his school days,” it said in a
statement.
It is understood the family of Jeremy Strachan, a 30-year-old veteran of the Australian military intervention in East Timor, is among those who have been in touch with Mr El Daghl.
Mr Strachan was a year behind David Gregory at Farrer.
His father, Craig Strachan, has spoken with regret to The Leader about the family’s failure to take Mr Strachan out of the school.
He said his son had only started to come to terms with the abuse he allegedly suffered since the Gregory case became public.
Jeremy Strachan has since left the army and works as labourer at a meat processing plant.
He is on medication, wrestles with depression and undergoes
counselling.
Mr Strachan said he regretted his decision to send Jeremy to Farrer.
“I do not favour single-sex schools, especially boarding schools, and my children attended them with some trepidation on my part,” he said.
“(Jeremy) was subjected to some very gross, crass and criminal activities at Farrer.”
Mr Strachan said while he was aware of some of the attacks at the time, changing schools was no easy matter.
“To just up and change schools can leave you, as a student, behind,” he said.
“When there is bastardisation occurring you (the parents) are really caught between a rock and a hard place – and Farrer knows it.”
Jeremy Strachan’s mother, Karen, agrees her son went through hell.
In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald she said he was still “damaged” from six years at Farrer.
One of the worst incidents allegedly involved six boys tying him up one night and simulating sexual acts upon him to humiliate him.
“Jeremy asked me not to take it any further, so I didn’t,” she said.
“He had a horrific time when he was there. He went in the army and the army is pretty tough but he said his time at Farrer was worse than the army.”
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