VLS3 v Osborne [2026] NSWSC 1184

VLS3 v Osborne [2026] NSWSC 1184 concerned a civil claim for damages arising from historical childhood sexual abuse. The central issue was which allegations were proved on the balance of probabilities, given the passage of almost 40 years, expanded later accounts, contemporaneous records, and Osborne’s 1987 guilty pleas and admissions. The Court found multiple assaults on Council grounds, including sexual touching and digital penetration, but rejected alleged abuse at the school and other conduct first alleged decades later. It attributed 70 per cent of the plaintiff’s psychiatric condition to the abuse, awarded aggravated but not exemplary damages, and entered judgment for $461,046.02, with costs.