Psychiatrist Dr. Robert Browne sexually abused 32 students while they were pupils at the private school. They were forced to undergo 'treatment' by him

A group of former pupils at an exclusive Honolulu private school for native Hawaiians are to receive $80 million in damages after they sued the institution claiming they were sexually abused by an eminent psychiatrist employed to give them therapy.

32 former students claimed they were attacked by Dr Robert Browne between 1958 and 1985 while he was employed by Kamehameha Schools.

The school has now admitted that it was covering up what the students described as 'decades of monstrous sexual abuse' largely against male boarders.

The school, which paid for the treatment, required each student to undergo private individual therapy which took place in Browne's office.

Most of the former students in the lawsuit are graduates of Kamehameha Schools.

Kamehameha Schools will pay out $80 million to victims and their families under a settlement in a sex abuse case that's rocked the prestigious private school

All of the boys were younger than 16 when they were abused.

Browne told the students what to do in his so-called therapy sessions so satisfy his sick pedophilic appetite.

It included him 'requiring' boys to masturbate, sometimes simultaneously with him and engage to in oral sex.

The boys were also 'penetrated with objects' which were all a required part of therapy to ensure their bodies were 'functioning properly'.

He 'raped, and sodomized' one boy from 1975, when he was 11 years old, through 1977, the lawsuit said, inserting his fingers, and 'large Sharpie-type pens,' into the child's rectum, causing bleeding.

He brandished a revolver as well, and made the child look at pornography, all the while 'telling him he was a nobody, no one would believe him, he was lying, nobody loved him, and nobody cared about him except Dr. Browne.'

For 27 years, the abuse took place in Browne's office and home, as well as the residential apartment of the principal.

The victims were all sexually assaulted by psychiatrist Dr. Robert Browne, who served as a consultant for the private school for nearly three decades

The 'treatment' was given under the guise of behavioral and psychological therapy.

The school would forced them, sometimes under threat of expulsion, to see a psychiatrist.

Browne drugged them, raped them and tormented them psychologically at weekend 'sleepovers' in his home.

If students refused to attend Browne's therapy sessions, they would be threatened, sometimes even with expulsion.

Boys who dared to confide in other school employees about the abuse got nowhere.

Browne remained as the school's psychiatrist until one day in 1991 he was then confronted by a former student.

That night Browne shot himself in the head. His body was found the following day in a neighbor's backyard.

Despite the suicide and accusations, officials did nothing in response.

In a video deposition reported by Hawaii News Now, Michael Chun, president of the school at the time, shared concern there might be more victims.

He went to the high school principal who did not know what steps to take next.

'Basically,' the principal testified, 'I said, 'The man is dead. I don't know what to do with this.'

Settlement talks began in earnest last month — after Kamehameha apologized for not acting faster to help the men

The lawsuit claimed that Kamehameha Schools had known about the allegations of sexual abuse for the past 25 years but failed to either respond or investigate them.

In addition to paying out the $80 million in cash, the school has agreed to take steps to make sure such abuses are never repeated, including establishing an independently run hotline service.

'After a bitter battle,' Mark S. Davis, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, told The Washington Post, the school trustees 'began to understand that in this 'MeToo' world, transparency and accountability is a lot more valuable than concealment.'

The settlement culminates one of the most high-profile scandals in Hawaii's modern history.

A Kamehameha spokesman did not respond immediately to a request for comment, but school has not disputed the allegations and has instead issued a public apology recently as the attention to the lawsuit mounted.

In depositions, former school officials admitted that they knew of the abuses.

The school's CEO Jack Wong issued a public apology: 'No one was prepared for the horrific revelation that our precious haumāna (students) were secretly abused and physically and emotionally traumatized from 1962-1984 by Dr. Robert Browne, Chief of Psychiatry at St. Francis Hospital. And, after abuses were reported, not nearly enough was done. … Kamehameha Schools is deeply and truly sorry.'

Blake Conant, a plaintiff, said his younger brother, Christopher, was abused by Browne from 1968 to 1969.

Browne prescribed Conant valium, according to the lawsuit.

The abuse had a terrible and lasting impact with some suffering from a deep depression with many committing suicide or dying from drug overdoses.

Blake Conant, left, said his brother Christopher, who died of an overdose, was abused by Dr Robert Brown in the late 1960s while a pupil Kamehameha School

Christopher Conant struggled with drugs and alcohol for the rest of his life until he died of an overdose in 2011, his older brother said.

Mr Conant said: 'How could this have happened? My mom and dad entrusted Kamehameha to watch over us.'

Kamehameha Schools was established in 1883 by the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Kamehameha Schools gives admission preference to students of Native Hawaiian ancestry and enrolls nearly 7,000 at three campuses statewide.

Browne served as director of psychiatry until he lost his credentials at the St. Francis Medical Center. He then continued practicing at Kuakini Medical Center. Browne died in 1991.

When the lawsuit was first announced, Kennith Cockett, vice president of communications at Kamehameha Schools, said the school was 'troubled and saddened' by the allegations.

The lawsuit only became possible because Hawaii recently extended the statute of limitations for adults who suffered sexual abuse as children.