A victim-survivor of Tasmanian paedophile John Wayne Millwood says his abuser has divested many of his assets to family members and third parties and declared himself bankrupt to avoid paying court-ordered compensation.
Key points:
- John Wayne Millwood was ordered in December to pay a record $5.3 million in compensation to his victim
- The victim-survivor has not received the payment, and says Millwood divested assets to avoid paying
- Millwood has now declared himself bankrupt
Millwood, 76 — a former Launceston businessman and art collector — sexually abused the survivor, known as ZAB, over a period of six years in the 1980s.
In 2021, ZAB won a civil Supreme Court case against Millwood, however, the victim-survivor said the compensation amount was now about $6 million — the original order was for a record $5,313,500 — because of interest on the unpaid amount.
ZAB said he made an application to the court to recover the compensation but was now hopeful he could recover the payment through provisions in the Bankruptcy Act.
While ZAB’s lawyers applied to the Federal Court to have Millwood declared bankrupt, before the case was due to be heard in that court, Millwood declared himself bankrupt.
According to a creditor’s petition filed with the Federal Court on behalf of ZAB, Millwood “failed to comply on or before 26 July 2022 with the requirements of a bankruptcy notice served on him on 5 July 2022”.
The case is listed for hearing on September 8, however, according to the National Personal Insolvency Index, Millwood declared himself bankrupt on July 21.
ZAB said he only found that out on August 8.
“Unfortunately, [Millwood’s] self-declaration of bankruptcy will prolong the trauma involved,” ZAB said.
ZAB said he and his lawyers had documents they planned to use in court to argue Millwood had divested assets while the civil court case was underway.
“As the major creditor — now owed $6 million in damages, costs and interest — I will, however, use the significant powers afforded under the Bankruptcy Act to claw back assets from those family members and other third parties,” he said.
“I have no doubt we will succeed in recovering the $6 million I am owed in full, and it will cost Millwood and his family far more in the long run.”
ZAB said law reform was needed “to ensure convicted paedophiles cannot avoid paying compensation to victims in this way.”
“Superannuation laws are in desperate need of reform, as they prevent us from accessing Millwood’s multi-million-dollar self-managed super funds to recover damages,” he said.
Lawyer Angela Sdrinis — who specializes in personal injury claims related to child sexual abuse — said that in her experience, successful plaintiffs often had trouble getting compensation from individual perpetrators.
“One of the things that have been flagged, but unfortunately hasn’t been acted, on was a proposal that legislation be passed whereby a perpetrator’s superannuation would be made available or accessible to successful litigants in matters like these, in cases of child abuse, Ms Sdrinis said.
She said that approach would be “a pretty good start”, but said not all perpetrators had large amounts of superannuation.
Another reform Ms Sdrinis suggested was to make so-called freezing orders easier to obtain.
“One of the things that can be done in criminal prosecutions is that assets can be restrained, restraining orders can be made so that the assets are held safely, pending the outcome of the criminal process,” she said.
“There’s not really an analogous process in the civil law. Claimants can make applications for what are called freezing orders, but those orders are very expensive to obtain before a court.
“The law relating to freezing orders is pretty much that you’re only likely to get a freezing order if you can prove that the disposal of assets is absolutely imminent — like a ‘for sale’ sign on a house — you really have [to have] that situation.”
Ms Sdrinis said transfers of land and other assets could be reversed by order of the court, “if the evidence is that the defendant disposed of the assets in order to avoid having to pay, but that’s a difficult, expensive and complicated process”.
Record-setting compensation in civil trial
Millwood initially pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to multiple child sex offences. In the lead-up to his trial, he changed his plea to guilty.
He was sentenced to four years in prison and was given parole in 2019 after serving just over half of his jail time.
ZAB brought a civil action against Millwood in 2018. That case went to trial.
Millwood was unrepresented and did not make an appearance.
Chief Justice Alan Blow ordered Millwood to pay the abuse survivor a record-setting amount of $5,313,500.
In his decision, Justice Blow said the abuse “had devastating consequences for the plaintiff’s [ZAB’s] mental health”.
“His adult life has been affected by his complex post-traumatic stress disorder and his depression in practically every possible way. There are prospects for improvement, but certainly not full recovery.”
The ABC has attempted to contact Millwood through his trustee.
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