Catholic Education Boss Blames Staff for Failure to Deal with Paedophile Teacher

Brisbane Times
February 21, 2014

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/catholic-education-boss-blames-staff-for-failure-to-deal-with-paedophile-teacher-20140221-3369j.html

A Catholic education director says his staff had the knowledge to deal with sexual abuse claims against a Queensland teacher, but did not apply it.

A royal commission in Brisbane has heard two Catholic education officers and the principal of a Queensland school learned of abuse claims against a teacher in 2007, but failed to act.

That teacher, Gerard Byrnes, was eventually jailed in 2010 after pleading guilty to 44 child sex charges involving 13 young girls.

Byrnes was allowed to continue working at the school after the first complaints surfaced, and went on to abuse other pupils.

Catholic education director John Borserio gave evidence on Friday to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr Borserio rejected claims by the three men that they didn't act on initial complaints because they weren't properly trained.

He said all three knew all along how they should have responded.

"I think they had the knowledge. I think it was the application of that that was an issue," Mr Borserio told the hearing.

"I believe that we did have good practices. I believed that we had quality training. I believed all of that, but it counted for naught."

Counsel Assisting, Gail Furness, asked Mr Borserio if that lack of action against Byrnes indicated "a wholesale systemic failure" within the school.

"Given the sad chapter in the school's life, I can only accept that," he replied.

Mr Borserio said he had no prior knowledge of complaints against Byrnes before the teacher was arrested in 2008.

He said principal Terry Hayes only told him after the arrest that "there had been a complaint some time before".

The former Bishop of Toowoomba, who sacked three men over the incident but not Mr Borserio, is due to front the hearing later on Friday.

The hearing continues.