IT WAS about the time that David Gregory moved into a tent in order to avoid sleeping in a room that had once housed school textbooks that he realised his behaviour was becoming bizarre.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The former bullying victim was working as a dormitory master at Scots College's Glengarry campus near Kangaroo Valley, where year 9 students spend a year of their studies, when he noticed textbooks in his room that brought back memories of his own school experiences, he told the Supreme Court yesterday.
"I had to get rid of the books and I had to clean my whole room down with hospital disinfectant in case the books had touched something else in the room," Mr Gregory said. "Once I removed the books I burnt them."
Even then, he was unable to sleep in the room, so he set up a mattress in a storeroom and washed himself after 11pm when everyone had gone to sleep.
When this bed was discovered by staff at the school, Mr Gregory claims that he camouflaged a tent in the bush and lived there in August and September, until a new room became available.
Mr Gregory is suing the state of NSW for more than $2 million for allegedly failing in its duty of care to him by allowing him to be bullied at Farrar Memorial Agricultural High School in Tamworth. Students allegedly turned against him in year 7 after he raised concerns about a system known as "sack", under which older boys were allowed to hit their juniors with steel rulers or a broom if they failed to follow their commands.
His parents have bought a cafe in Mollymook to give him a purpose in life but it has lost $270,000 over the past two years.
Under cross-examination, counsel for the state, Campbell Bridge, SC, suggested the school had not ignored Mr Gregory's problems because a counsellor had said treatment was available for his obsessive behaviour.
Mr Gregory said he disagreed with the diagnosis. "I asked him for help because I was being bullied and abused and he comes out and says I have a problem, I have a psychological problem."
The hearing continues.
