Tasmania is a small place, so it’s not hard to rub shoulders with many of even the island’s biggest names. I only ever had one, tangential, encounter with former millionaire Launceston businessman John Millwood. Let’s say it was not a pleasant encounter and Millwood did not leave an impression on me as a particularly nice person.
So, it was with no small schadenfreude that I read the news, some years back, that Millwood had joined the ranks of “disgraced former businessmen” – in the worst possible way. In 2016 Millwood was convicted for years of repeatedly raping a boy in the 1980s. As it happened, the creep only served four years, but his victim was awarded a record civil damages payout of $5.3m.
But Millwood had one final act of abuse up his sleeve.
A child abuse survivor awarded the nation’s highest civil damages payout has been denied one cent after his wealthy perpetrator divested assets worth millions of dollars to family and friends […]
On the same day Millwood was sentenced – December 7, 2016 – his victim-survivor, known in court as ZAB, lodged an application for civil damages.
That same day, Millwood – described by the trial judge as lacking any remorse and by a parole board as “narcissistic” – began to divest his assets.
So, now Millwood is technically “bankrupt” – but his family and friends are snout-deep in up to $8m, including a $2m colonial art and antique collection.
Despite written legal warnings against divesting his shareholding, the directors of the pathology company that was the source of his millions signed over an estimated $4m in shares to companies solely owned and controlled by his daughter, Sarah Millwood.
And she’s not about to part with a single cent of her very grubby money.
This transfer was signed by Realba director Colin John Jackson, a former rich-listed accountant and Sonic Healthcare executive who testified to Millwood’s “good character” at his sentencing. Millwood, his daughter, Dr Prentice and Mr Jackson did not respond to requests for comment; nor did several other Realba directors.
Sarah Millwood, through lawyers for one of her companies, told ZAB’s solicitors in September 2019 that she did not accept that she was “exposed to any judgment that your client obtains against Mr Millwood”.
In the words of ZAB himself, “You must appreciate how morally reprehensible it would be if a convicted pedophile’s divestment of assets, supported by his … colleagues, were to deny compensation to child abuse survivors.”
Reprehensible, shmeprehensible: obviously some people are all too happy to pocket a molester’s millions and damn the morality.
Millwood also owned properties on the fringe of Launceston’s CBD, one of which has housed some of the city’s fanciest restaurants, valued at $2.5m. After the properties were transferred to his daughter, she rapidly sold them off to Virgin Australia co-founder Robert Sherrard.
Mr Sherrard, through his lawyer – former MP and Labor candidate for the marginal seat of Bass, Ross Hart – has declined to give ZAB any undertakings in relation to the properties, which he said he bought at “market rates”.
He “categorically” denies any knowledge or involvement in the divestment of Millwood’s fortune but has declined to detail what Mr Hart referred to as past “dealings” with Millwood.
So, he’s not about to part with a cent, either.
A raft of other properties were transferred and either sold off or given away to other friends and family. None of whom are apparently keen to talk to the media. A realtor pleads age and fading memory: “I’m 70-odd.” Millwood’s former partner claims, “I don’t know anything about this… I’m not discussing anything. It’s nothing to do with you.”
ZAB is bracing for a long fight, using Bankruptcy Act provisions, to claw back Millwood’s divested assets. His lawyers have taken a keen interest in $1m-plus properties bought by Millwood friends or family members since 2016.
He urges anyone who has benefited to assist with his quest for the compensation that Chief Justice Alan Blow said “would be unjust” if he did not receive it.
“Do family and friends of a convicted pedophile have a moral obligation to ensure that the victim receives justice and restitution?” ZAB said.
“I would say they do.”
The Australian
It would probably be too much to expect that their consciences will trouble them as they kick back in their multi-million dollar properties, counting the fortunes they’ve snatched from the grasp of the victim of a paedophile and an altogether reprehensible human being.