Aussie teacher accused of abuse living in NZ for 40 years

New Zealand Herald
December 10, 2014

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11372043

The former teacher has denied fleeing Australia over a child abuse claim.

A teacher alleged to have abused boys during music lessons at an elite school in Tasmania has been living in New Zealand for 40 years.

Ronald Thomas, 77, was named by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse investigating allegations of abuse at Hutchins School in Hobart in the late 1960s. It was believed he had fled to South Africa when police indicated he would be arrested, and had later died.

However, he was tracked down by The Australian newspaper to rural North Island dairy country where the now retired teacher lives with his same-sex partner.

During the Royal Commission's inquiry, former Tasmanian police chief Richard McCreadie gave evidence that Thomas confessed to child abuse in 1970.

But Thomas denied any such confession to The Australian, saying: "I made no statement; no confession statement.

"One of those (police) men came back two or three weeks later and I ? said, 'It's my word against yours'. And he said 'Yes, OK', so I said, 'Bye, bye'. There was never any question of an arrest."

Thomas said he had not fled to South Africa, but instead took up a long-planned teaching job in Western Samoa.

The commission also heard from two former students who said Thomas sexually abused them during private music lessons. Both said they had been left psychologically damaged by the experience.

When approached by The Australian at his home in Manawatu, Thomas insisted there was "no truth" to any of their allegations.

"I've lived a happy life and a productive life and that's that," he told the paper.

Mr McCreadie gave evidence that both Thomas and former headmaster David Lawrence had made "confessional statements" to him in 1970, in which they admitted sexually abusing boys. He said both men were informed they were "likely to be arrested" but when he returned to "formally arrest" them several weeks later they had fled overseas.

Hutchins current board has recently apologised for the historical abuse, the investigation of which has implicated up to eight teachers at the establishment school.