A state government could have defeated four civil cases over a female teacher's alleged abuse of male students in the 1970s because the harm of such conduct wasn't known at the time, a court has been told.
Helga Lam taught languages at a school in Sydney's eastern suburbs almost five decades ago and was arrested in 2021 over the alleged historical child sexual abuse of multiple students.
The charges were dismissed in July after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal found she could not be prosecuted because of her gender.
That court found the relevant 1970s law, which was repealed in 1984, applied only to men abusing boys.
The four former students launched civil proceedings against the NSW government seeking compensation and were paid $2.5 million in settlements.
The state, which has acknowledged it breached its duty to the men, is now pursuing Mrs Lam, seeking court orders that she be liable to pay a significant chunk of that money.
On Thursday, her barrister Dominic Toomey SC argued his client should not pay a cent because the NSW government had not proved it was actually liable to pay any damages itself.
He told Justice Ian Harrison that if the state had chosen to take the matter to a contested hearing rather than settle, it would have defeated the claims.
"We say they would have won, they would have won for numerous reasons," he said.
None of the cases brought by the four men had merit and all were full of deficiencies, the court was told.
The state of knowledge about child sexual abuse in the 1970s meant it was not foreseeable that boys who had intercourse with female teachers experienced mental harm, Mr Toomey said.
The government had to prove it was liable to pay damages before the court could force Mrs Lam to foot part of the bill, he argued.
While Mrs Lam denied the allegations of sexual assault in 1978 and 1979, Mr Toomey said the state would not have had to pay any compensation even if it did occur.
The school would only have become aware of the alleged sexual activity after it had already ended for three of the men, he said.
There were also questions around whether claims the abuse had continued into 1979 for the fourth man were true, Mr Toomey argued.
That alleged victim said he was molested by Mrs Lam on three occasions outside a local pool during the summer holidays.
However, there was evidence that she had spent most of that time in the Southern Highlands at her parents' home and then in Southeast Asia on holidays with her husband, Mr Toomey said.
The four men have accused Mrs Lam of multiple acts of abuse in 1978 and 1979, including sexual activity in a staffroom, in classrooms, at her unit and backstage during a school production of Zorro.
She allegedly flirted with the students at school, making inappropriate comments about their genitalia and sexual conduct.
No report of any complaint or an investigation by the school of any allegations had been uncovered, the courts was told previously.
The hearing continues.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
