Hugh's Story 
Hugh grew up in a loving family in Tasmania. Hugh met Oscar, a Scout leader, in 1982 when he was between 10 and 11 years old and joined the Scouts. 
Hugh told the Commissioner that 'this guy just basically infiltrated our family in a sly and underhand way... he got under Mum and Dad's radar, it was a strange relationship where he would take my older brother Henry and me out to meals to restaurants and things'. 
Hugh's family never questioned their relationship. Hugh said, 'I think Mum looked at it as him being nice, as him, you know, as in looking after her boys and taking them on trips to things that she probably couldn't afford, she was already trying to feed four boys and maintain a family of six'. 
In describing the way in which Oscar worked on the family, Hugh said 'they work on the parents to start with, whether it is consciously or subconsciously,  I don't know. They gain the parents' trust, the parents give their trust and then they turn their back for a minute and think everything's fine, I can leave them with Oscar for a weekend and nothing is going to happen because I trust him. I've judged him, I've seen him, I've met him, and then once the parents sort of either turn their backs or do their own thing, that is when they make  their move.' 
Hugh described Oscar throwing parties and having sleepovers at his house where there were always young 10 to 12 year old boys around. The boys were encouraged to consume alcohol, smoke marijuana and play card games. They were then subjected to sexual abuse by Oscar. At other times, during Scout camps, Oscar would sleep in tents with the boys and abuse them. 
Hugh was a 'straight A' student at school, became head prefect and did several university degrees and married. In his early 30s, his successful life came to an abrupt halt after a chance encounter with Oscar at a concert. Hugh had a complete breakdown, going home and losing control, punching the wall and ending up under the bed. In the course of this, Hugh revealed to his wife the abuse he had suffered. When Hugh sought advice from others, they told him not to bring up the past. Sometime later, he met another man who had been abused by Oscar and they decided to go to the police. When their approaches to the police seemed to be getting nowhere, Hugh and  the other man went to Oscar's house and Hugh physically attacked Oscar and smashed up his house. He told the Commissioner, 'and I go to jail for it, right, and I do three months... and he got eight months' suspended sentence, $450 victims of crime, put on the sex offenders register for three years. So work that out and stay sober? That's the justice system'. 
He said, 'there were so many prisoners who'd been sexually abused, so many cases of physical abuse... so often they would say, "Yep, that happened to me, that happened to me". And this is where the people end up'. In 2008, when he got out of jail, Hugh received $30,000 compensation under the Victims of Crime Assistance Scheme. Hugh says that the abuse wrecked his life. He said, 'I didn't plan to be 35, destitute, and living in jail by that age, divorced, businesses sort of broken down, mental illness, bipolar'. Hugh's father accompanied him to the private session and his mother provided further insights into the ways in which the consequences of the sexual abuse have affected everyone in the family.