Rape Victim's Mother Reacts To Verdict

A federal jury says Hilldale Public Schools is partly to blame for the molestation and rape of one its former students at the hands of her band director.

Saturday, August 16th 2008, 5:33 pm

By: News On 6

A federal jury says Hilldale Public Schools is partly to blame for the molestation and rape of one its former students at the hands of her band director. The girl, who is now 16-years-old, was awarded more than $2.5 million in damages.

News On 6's Ashli Sims reports it was an emotional night on Friday at the Muskogee federal courthouse for the victim and her family. The 16-year-old was overcome with tears, when her lawyer told her the federal jury found in her favor. The girl's mother says she can hardly believe it.

"I don't think anybody can really comprehend how much we've gone through and how much we probably will still go through. It doesn't just, it doesn't stop today. It's an on-going thing," said the victim's mother.

Almost overnight, Brian Giacomo went from being a close family friend and beloved band director to criminal, to the victim's mother. We're not showing the mother's face or using her name to protect the identity of her daughter.

When the girl was 15, Giacomo seduced, molested and raped her even pulling her out of class at Hilldale High School to commit the crimes.

The ex-band director is already serving time behind bars, but now a federal jury says the Hilldale Schools is also responsible for the abuse.

"Well it means in Oklahoma, we're not going to allow pedophiles to run our schools, allow them to have free reign in band programs or extra-curricular activities. We need the schools to protect our kids and that's what it's about," said Richard Toon, the victim's attorney.

Hilldale's attorneys tried to argue that the school acted quickly, when a parent showed them evidence of misconduct from Giacomo's MySpace page.

But, the plaintiffs argued that the school had notice six months earlier, when another student complained.

The school argued that student had a history of discipline problems and his story kept changing. So, they had no reason to believe him, over an eight-year teacher with a clean record.

The jury sided with the victim and awarded her more than $2.5 million dollars in damages. When she heard the verdict, the victim's mother only had thoughts of her daughter.

"I thought that my daughter's gonna be taken care of. That she's got the ability to have any problems taken care of for the rest of her life," said the victim's mother.

Her attorney hopes the verdict will spur change at Hilldale.

"Obviously, this girl and another little girl have been harmed the rest of their life by what happened over at the school. But, this is a start. It's a start hopefully that the school is going to change its policies and procedures and protect the kids," said Toon.

Hilldale's attorney and superintendent left the courthouse, before The News On 6 could get their reaction to the verdict. There is another civil lawsuit by Giacomo's second victim, which is still working its way through the court system.