A Whitehorse man who in 2008 sued the Yukon government for failing to protect him from his sexually abusive aunt has been ordered to pay the government's court costs to the tune of $120,000.

He must also pay more than $25,000 to a former elementary school principal he sued for allegedly sexually abusing him.

During the 2008 trial, the man's aunt admitted to fondling her then six-year-old nephew when she was 13.

She also forced him to simulate sex with her and would hold his head under water while he bathed or force him to smoke cigarettes.

She told the court she too had been the victim of repeated sexual abuse at the hands of older boys who lived in her group home.

She said she "tortured” and "tormented” her nephew "because she wanted someone else to feel her pain, to put someone else through what she was going through,” according to court documents.

The man, who along with the principal and the aunt cannot be named, claimed the government knew his aunt was being abused and was potentially a sexual predator.

The court heard evidence that as a girl, the aunt had complained to the group home parents about the boys "bothering” her, but nothing changed.

Nor did the foster home parents do anything after getting a call from a mother who had heard about the abuses from one of the boys.

Half a dozen reports from doctors and social workers with obvious "red flags” in regards to the girl's sexual precociousness and later sexually transmitted infections also failed to compel anyone to rescue the girl.

"It would seem that there were a number of red flags that should have alerted YTG officials to the fact (the girl) was engaging in sexual activity at a very young age, and was being harmed,” Supreme Court Justice J. Richard wrote in his 2008 decision.

"YTG clearly owed a duty of care to (the girl), and may well have breached that duty. However (she) is not a plaintiff in this litigation.”

But although Richard found the government may have been negligent in its care of the girl, he ruled it could not have reasonably foreseen the abuse against her nephew and dismissed the claim against the government.

The judge allowed the claim against the aunt and ordered her to pay her nephew $30,000 in damages.

The man's claim against his former principal was also dismissed.

The judge pointed to a number of factors which led him to doubt the man's testimony. They included the fact that he "recovered” his memory of the abuse shortly after his sister and partner started talking about abuse they experienced.

Before that time, the man said, he had no recollection of being molested by the principal. The judge also doubted the man's motives for pursuing the civil suit.

"The plaintiff in his evidence acknowledged that he has, on many specific occasions in his adult life ... provided misleading information, incorrect and untruthful information to police authorities and hospital authorities, for personal benefit or personal

reasons,” Richard wrote in his judgment.

At the end of the trial, Richard invited the government and the former principal to counterclaim for legal costs.

The final tally of those costs was released this week.