Content warning: This story discusses child sexual abuse. If you know a child or youth under 19 who is being abused, report your concern to a child protection worker at 1-800-663-9122. If you are a child or youth and would like to seek help, call the Helpline for Children at 310-1234.

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A survivor of child sexual abuse who agreed to anonymous interviews with Postmedia News three years ago has finally settled his civil lawsuit against several B.C. institutions for failing to protect him as a vulnerable boy.

Steve Cullen made the decision to lift his anonymity order months after talking about the alleged abuse at the hands of convicted child sex offender Jens Binderup Jensen, a Danish citizen, in the 1980s.

In 1994, Jensen was convicted of several counts of child sexual abuse after complaints to police by his grand nephew. Cullen, who was 18 at the time of that trial, was unable to testify because he was still battling the trauma of his own abuse and was in the throes of substance use disorder.

However, he was a key witness three years later when Jensen was deported to Denmark because of his criminal convictions. Cullen led authorities to Jensen’s storage locker, where a vast collection of child pornography was unearthed — including images of Cullen.

That was a first step in Cullen’s healing journey. From the age of six to 17, when Jensen was arrested, Cullen said he was sexually groomed and abused through Jensen’s connections with Beaver Scouts and the United Church.

The child of a single mother with her own struggles against addiction, Cullen was also suing the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development, the Vancouver school board and a Best Western franchisee where Jensen worked, giving the sexual predator access to empty hotel rooms to carry out the abuse.

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After more than four years of litigation, mediation and expert evidence, Cullen has resolved his lawsuit with the provincial children’s ministry, Scouts Canada, the Vancouver school district, the United Church of Canada and the hotel franchisee. It had been scheduled for a five-week trial in Vancouver starting Feb. 9.

Cullen’s lawyer, Sandra Kovacs of KazLaw Injury Lawyers, said Cullen suffered from severe complex post-traumatic stress disorder in the decade following his abuse at Jensen’s hands.

He later found personal stability with his spouse, professional therapists and support from his employer, Glowbal Restaurant Group, where he worked as an IT specialist.

The next big step in Cullen’s healing journey, said Kovacs, was starting the lawsuit against Jensen and the institutional defendants in 2021. The lawsuit alleged the institutions were aware, or should have been aware, of Jensen’s abuse of Cullen and failed to protect him.

Jensen was served for the lawsuit in Denmark through the Hague Convention, but never filed a defence and defaulted. The institutional action continued.

After the anonymity order was lifted in 2023, Cullen had the freedom to speak out “when he felt he was eventually ready to do so,” said Kovacs. “That moment is now.”

“I spent most of my life believing my suffering was invisible,” said Cullen in a statement. “As a kid, I didn’t even understand what was happening to me — I assumed it was normal. The consequences didn’t end when the abuse stopped.

“I lost my education, my safety, my family life, and more than a decade of my future. This settlement is acknowledgment — not charity. Institutions that should have protected a child failed to act, and that failure changed the entire course of my life.

“My message to other survivors is simple: You are not alone. You deserve to be heard. And you have the right to seek justice — no matter how long it has been. I hope my case sends a clear warning: Ignoring child protection concerns has real consequences. Silence is complicity.”

“Steve showed remarkable courage and strength in navigating a long, difficult legal process,” said Kovacs. “Accessing justice as a child sexual abuse survivor means confronting painful memories and triggering distressing symptoms, which for him meant re-experiencing his abuse while articulating his traumatic memories.”

The terms of the lawsuit settlement have not been made public.

If you know a child or youth under 19 who is being abused, report your concern to a child protection worker at 1-800-663-9122. If you are a child or youth and would like to seek help, call the Helpline for Children at 310-1234.

jruttle@postmedia.com