Trust Grew for Bus Driver

Sky News
March 20, 2014

http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=960228


A school bus driver gained greater access to students because the level of trust grew between him and the principal, the royal commission into sex abuse has heard.

Former principal Claude Hamam said the driver, Brian Perkins, started volunteering around Adelaide's St Ann's Special School by helping out in the woodwork shed, doing repairs around the school and mowing the lawns.

'At the time we had an element of trust that we had for all the staff there,' he told the commission on Friday.

It is investigating the school and Perkins who sexually abused intellectually disabled children between 1986 and 1991.

Mr Hamam hired Perkins as a driver, telling the commission 'he seemed to be suitable for the position'.

He did not know why he did not carry out a police check - which would have revealed previous child abuse convictions - and could not recall if he verified his references.

Mr Hamam agreed that as Perkins took on more school activities, he had greater opportunities to be alone with children but said 'we were extremely vigilant'.

He also agreed that the level of trust between them had grown.

Mr Hamam said he did not recall a mother telling him around 1990 that Perkins had placed her daughter on his knee in the woodwork shed and tried to feel her breast.

If that happened, he said he would have informed police.

He recalled an incident when a teacher complained about a 'creepy' man being on the school premises with Perkins.

Counsel assisting the commission said that man was Robert Hawkes, who, along with Perkins, was one of four paedophiles later investigated by police.

Mr Hamam said the teacher thought the man 'was a little creepy and she didn't like the look of this person'.

Potential volunteers were sometimes introduced by staff, but Mr Hamam said he decided they did not want Mr Hawkes at the school.

He could not recall bringing up Mr Hawkes with Perkins, nor could he recall if the incident gave him concerns about the driver.

He said he first found out about the abuse claims when police contacted him in 1991.

Perkins, jailed for 10 years in 2003 after pleading guilty to sex offences, died in prison in 2009.

The hearing is continuing.