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	Parents Misled about Sex Abuse By Lacey Burley The Chronicle December 4, 2009 http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2009/12/04/victims-parents-say-they-were-misled-by-principal/ PARENTS of students at the heart of a child sex abuse scandal are outraged they were misled by the school’s principal who knew for 14 months of a complaint that a teacher had sexually abused a student. The principal had denied any prior knowledge of the allegations at a meeting after the accused teacher was charged with rape in November last year. A school parent contacted The Chronicle yesterday and said parents were angered by Tuesday’s court case in which the principal was found not guilty of failing to report a student’s complaint that she was sexually abused by a teacher. Court case details revealed the Catholic primary school principal had known of the complaint and reported it to his superiors 14 months before Toowoomba Police arrested and charged the teacher with 12 counts of rape and 34 counts of indecent treatment of a child. The accused pedophile teacher was initially charged on the night of Friday, November 14, last year with five counts of rape and one count of indecent treatment. Word quickly spread and about 10 parents, including those with victim children, met with the school principal, a Catholic priest, and Catholic Education Office manager Christopher Fry on the morning of Monday, November 17, last year. The angry parent said the principal, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had misled parents. “It was asked of (the principal) in several different ways whether he had any (previous) knowledge of these allegations and he categorically denied it, saying no,” she said. “He denied that he had ever heard of any complaints at all.” The parent said the principal also denied allegations that the charged teacher bullied male students. During the principal’s court case, he gave evidence that he was informed of the alleged sexual abuse of a female student by the girl’s father in September, 2007. He immediately reported the allegations to his superiors Christopher Fry and Ian Hunter who advised him to write a letter to the teacher outlining the allegations. The police were never contacted and the abuse remained secret until another victim student made further sex abuse complaints directly to Toowoomba Police in November last year. Parents are angered that the principal has told people he intends to return to his position after being cleared of the charge. The parent also said that during the meeting, the parents were told they could not speak about the incident on school property. Catholic Education Office director John Borserio said the school conducted a number of meetings with parents in the week following the charges against the former teacher in November, 2008, to answer any questions they had and listen to their concerns regarding child protection. “Toowoomba Diocese head Bishop William Morris is currently considering appropriate disciplinary action to take following the principal’s trial and the internal investigation.”
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