A paedophile teacher continued to work in the classroom for six years after allegations of sexual abuse were first made against him, a royal commission has heard.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told that jailed teacher Kenneth Sandilands was eventually allowed to resign from his position due to his failing eyesight.
At the time he left Northside Christian College in 1992, the Victorian school had received claims of abuse involving nine young children. The commission has been told up to 30 children were abused by Sandilands at the school.
Sandilands was jailed in 2000 for the offences committed at Northside Christian College and last month was sentenced to a further 26 months in prison for sexual offences committed at another Victorian school, St Pauls Anglican Primary School, between 1970 and 1974.
The commission was told Northside Christian Centre, which ran the school, did not check Sandilands' references, instead relying on an endorsement by the Victorian education department.
In evidence to the royal commission, Northside Christian College teacher Margaret Furlong said she reported three allegations of abuse to the then principal Neil Rookes but was unaware of any action being taken.
She told the commission she was a survivor of child sexual abuse and she was distrustful of the legal system but put her faith in "Godly men".
"I went into working at Northside Christian College with no belief in the legal system to deal fairly with victims of child sexual abuse," she said.
"I put my trust in people that I thought would do the right thing. However, these men did not do the right thing."
Northside Christian College was run by the Northside Christian Centre, now known as Encompass Church, which is affiliated with Australia's Pentecostal movement.
Despite numerous allegations of sexual abuse against Sandilands, staff and students were told he was resigning on the grounds of his poor eyesight. The commission has previously heard that former Northside Christian Centre senior pastor Denis Smith discussed the "potential financial benefits" that might be available if Sandilands left teaching.
The commission has heard evidence from victim Emma Fretton, who was abused by Sandilands from the age of six when she was in grade one.
Ms Fretton told the commission Sandilands beat her with a wooden paddle and touched her genitals.
"For me, being a six-year-old girl, going to school was the scariest thing," she said.
Former deputy principal Simon Murray wept in the stand as he spoke of learning of the victims' suffering.
Former school counsellor Kerry Lovell told the royal commission she recommended in 1991 that Sandilands stop teaching but instead a roster of mothers was arranged to monitor his classroom. Ms Lovell said they were not told of the sexual molestation claims, only that his eyesight was failing.
The commission was also told that Sandilands was allowed to teach sex education to children aged nine and 10 despite the allegations of misconduct.
The public hearing is examining the response of Australian Christian Churches and affiliated Pentecostal churches to allegations of child sexual abuse.
The hearing before Justice Jennifer Coate continues.