Royal Commission told Northside Christian College failed to deal with paedophile teacher

By Mark Colvin
ABC - PM
October 14, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2014/s4106869.htm?site=melbourne

MARK COLVIN: The child abuse Royal Commission has been told that the Northside Christian College in Melbourne failed miserably in its duty of care after 30 children were sexually abused in the 1980s and 1990s.

The inquiry is looking at the serial offender Ken Sandilands.

It's revealed explosive allegations that the school's senior pastor bungled the handling of complaints from children, parents, and other teachers. The accusation is that that allowed Sandilands to go on abusing children several years after the first allegations emerged in 1986.

Pastor Denis Smith sat on the church board and chaired the school council. He's accused of failing to sack Sandilands and concealing crucial information about his misconduct from the school board.

After lengthy and at times heated questioning, Reverend Smith admitted that he did bear some responsibility for what happened at the college.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: The Royal Commission has heard that the person at Northside Christian College making the decisions about former teacher and convicted sex offender Ken Sandilands was the former senior pastor, and that was indisputable.

But for a second day that senior pastor, Denis Smith, gave evidence about how he saw his role and responsibilities when the first complaint came to him in 1986 and in the years that followed.

The inquiry has heard that despite multiple complaints and warnings issued to Sandilands, the school leadership accepted that none of the claims were proven and there were even some doubts about whether the misconduct had a sexual connotation, and so Sandilands stayed in the classroom.

As senior pastor, Denis Smith also held positions on the church board and was chair of the school council.

DENIS SMITH: The allegations were from memory that the situation was improper, but the details were not mentioned to me.

SIMEON BECKETT: Pastor Smith, that's just rubbish, isn't it?

DENIS SMITH: With all due respect sir, no.

SIMEON BECKETT: You said "Mr Sandilands denied all allegations", do you see that?

DENIS SMITH: Yes, yes.

SIMEON BECKETT: Did you put the allegations in detail to him of that sexual abuse?

DENIS SMITH: I put the allegations of the parents to Mr Sandilands, and he vehemently denied them.

SIMEON BECKETT: And that was the extent of your investigation?

DENIS SMITH: Yes, because that was in collaboration with the principal and the committee that he'd appointed to work with this.

EMILY BOURKE: Reverend Smith didn't go to the police nor did he seek the advice of child protection authorities.

SIMEON BECKETT: And you knew in December of 1993 that such conduct was likely to be criminal conduct?

DENIS SMITH: That concept was still evolving, but certainly criminal, yes.

SIMEON BECKETT: Why did you not, at that point in time, refer these matters to the police?

DENIS SMITH: Because fundamentally I believed that it was the parents' responsibility over their children to do what they felt was appropriate to that.

EMILY BOURKE: Sandilands continued teaching until end of 1992, when he went on indefinite sick leave.

SIMEON BECKETT: From the start of 1987 right through to December of 1992, were you trying to hide the allegations against Mr Sandilands from the church board?

DENIS SMITH: No. For that four year period I had no negative report from the principal concerning Mr Sandilands, and I had nothing to report.

SIMEON BECKETT: No negative report? You'd had reported to you that he'd breached a warning in April of 1987, breached the guidelines in October of 1987, breached the guidelines again in 1991, and been found to be engaging in some form of sex education in 1992. Did you not think that those matters were worthy of report to the church board?

DENIS SMITH: If it got to the point where it was a proven allegation, it would have been automatic.

SIMEON BECKETT: But because they were allegations, you didn't take them to the church board?

DENIS SMITH: Because the educators told me that it was a matter that they were handling. I accepted that that's what they were doing.

EMILY BOURKE: Reverend Smith has never apologised to victims but under questioning by Simeon Beckett, he made some concessions.

SIMEON BECKETT: So do you consider you bear any level of responsibility for the abuse of children by Mr Sandilands?

DENIS SMITH: In hindsight, yes.

SIMEON BECKETT: And why do you bear that responsibility?

DENIS SMITH: Because of the outcomes that entailed. Again, it's a case of 20/20 vision -- had I known this, I would have acted differently. I believe I followed all the recommendations provided to me by the education experts of the college and followed through to the best of my ability.

SIMEON BECKETT: So do I take it that the level of regret is more to do with not having been provided with the information of child sexual abuse by Mr Sandilands during the time that he was at the school?

DENIS SMITH: It was regret for the hurt that came to the children.

EMILY BOURKE: John Spinella succeeded Reverend Smith.

SIMEON BECKETT: And then you reached the conclusion: "I will be perfectly honest -- this whole situation was completely bungled by the past leadership and in particular by Denis Smith, who had the power to fire Ken". That was your opinion when you wrote this memo, wasn't it?

JOHN SPINELLA: It is.

SIMEON BECKETT: And is it the same today?

JOHN SPINELLA: Unfortunately yes.

EMILY BOURKE: And he says the dismissal of children's concerns over a period of 10 years was inexcusable.

JOHN SPINELLA: I apologise on behalf of our church, the failures of Northside Christian College -- I'm just so sorry. And we will do everything in our power, both in the college and in the church to ensure as much as possible that this will never happen again. It should never happen to little children. They are precious.

MARK COLVIN: Senior pastor John Spinella ending Emily Bourke's report.