Royal Commission to Probe Handling of Catholic School Assaults

ABC News
January 19, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-17/royal-commission-to-probe-handling-of-school-assaults/5205590

Photo: The Brisbane hearing will be the first outside of Sydney for the Royal Commission chaired by Justice Peter McClelland. (ABC TV)

The handling of sexual assault cases at a Catholic primary school on Queensland's Darling Downs will be publicly examined in Brisbane next month.

The allegations at St Saviour's School in Toowoomba will be a case study for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

A teacher from the school was sentenced to 10 years jail in 2010 for the rape and molestation of 13 students.

The children were aged between nine and 10-years-old.

The Royal Commission will consider the response of the Principal and other staff to the offences in 2007 and 2008.

It will also probe the response by the Catholic Education Office in the Toowoomba Diocese and the adequacy of safeguards put in place after the incidents.

The case study will be the Royal Commission's sixth public hearing and the first to be held outside of Sydney.

It is expected to run for two weeks.