SEVERAL naked male statues were placed near the male toilets at Kogarah TAFE, where a student had an accident slicing his thumb, because it was the only place they were not interfered with by female students, a court has heard.

Nader Arnaout was awarded $21,579 in damages yesterday for the injury, which happened in March 2005 when a statue blocked the swinging exit door of the toilet, shattering the glass, which sliced his thumb. But the design student lost his bid for compensation for reduced earnings for life because District Court Judge Colin O'Connor ruled he was not unfit to work as a graphic artist.

However, the judge ruled the college should have foreseen the risk of injury from the statues, which were unsecured in the corridors when not in use. College authorities were aware students were "susceptible to playing practical jokes or engaging in inappropriate behaviour".

The statues of naked men had been an object of fun to students before, he found. They had to be moved to outside the male toilets because "female students were known to touch the genitalia of the statue causing it to become dirty [and] requiring it to be cleaned", he said. "On other occasions … bits had been broken off the statues … [and] locating it in the corridor in the vicinity of the male toilet reduced the frequency of this happening … "

The court found the accident probably occurred when someone moved the statue in front of the toilet door after Mr Arnaout had entered. After the accident the statues were secured to the wall.

John Catsanos, the barrister for the state of NSW, which Mr Arnaout sued, argued the injury did not meet the 15 per cent injury threshold for compensation. Judge O'Connor ruled it qualified as 22 per cent of the worst case injury. He ordered the state to pay Mr Arnaout's legal costs.