A Bridgewater man has come forward with claims that he is yet another victim of disgraced Australian Test cricket umpire and serial school pedophile, Stephen Randell.

Our client, Damien Matcham, no longer wants to remain silent on the alleged sexual abuse that “wrecked my whole outlook on life”, and allegedly left him with a litany of physical and emotional scars that even left him near-death in intensive care.

Randell, 68, was jailed for four years in 1999 after he was found guilty of sexually abusing nine Burnie schoolgirls in the early 1980s.

Mr Matcham, now 51, alleged he was seriously sexually abused by Randell over the course of three years at Bridgewater Primary School and in the school gymnasium, during the early 80s, from when he was seven years old.

Mr Matcham’s lawyer, Kelly Schober from Arnold Thomas & Becker, said there were many more instances of historic sexual abuse in Tasmania that had not been uncovered.

“From our experience in dealing with survivors of abuse we know that many don’t report it, and if they do it can be years or even decades later,” she said.
“ When we first hear about abuse at a school, our investigations often reveal there are multiple victims of a single predator – we think there are a lot more out there that we still don’t know about.

“We know how incredibly hard it can be for survivors to come forward – but every voice makes a difference.”

Ms Schober also warned survivors against seeking compensation under the National Redress Scheme, which caps compensation at just $150,000 – and often much less.

“The compensation available under redress is measly and nowhere near enough to reflect what survivors have been through,” she said.

Read the full story at the Mercury.

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