Former Knox Grammar teacher expected to be sacked after admitting to child sex offences

By Angela Lavoipierre
ABC News
February 25, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-25/convicted-sex-offender-and-knox-grammar-teacher-expected-to-be-/6261060

Former Knox Grammar teacher and convicted sex offender Craig Treloar says he was surprised when he wasn't sacked for admitting sex offences.

A convicted sex offender and former teacher at Knox Grammar says he was expecting to be sacked when he was first caught, but the school instead showed him leniency.

This week, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has been hearing evidence of abuse at the exclusive boys' school on Sydney's north shore between 1970 and 2003.

Craig Treloar, a former teacher at the school, was sentenced to two years jail in 2009 over a number of offences, including sexual assault.

He showed pornography including depictions of bestiality to students, as well as engaging in physical abuse.

He told the commission he admitted to the then headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson, in 1987, that he had shown students pornography, but was not fired.

"I thought my career was over," he said.

"I thought I'd be sacked."

However, the suggestion was never made, according to Mr Treloar.

"The decision was that obviously I would leave the boarding house, that I would lose my teaching position for a period of six months," he said.

The school even agreed to commute the six-month suspension to a later date, at Mr Treloar's request.

He told the commission he could not recall whether Dr Paterson asked any questions about the extent of his misconduct.

"The only thing I can say, is that had he asked me... I most would have likely have said no because I would have been too scared," he said.

Mr Treloar said there was no discussion at that time of taking the matter to police or of an internal investigation.

He was sent on leave without pay.

He also told the commission of an incident he had heard about at the school in the 1980s in which a boy was assaulted in his dorm by a man wearing a balaclava and a Knox tracksuit.

Mr Treloar said there was no discussion of police involvement when this incident was raised.

He also told the commission he was remorseful for his actions.

"From the moment the videos were exposed in '87, I've had to live with that," Mr Treloar said.

"And I don't say 'poor me', but I've had to live with that, and I've constantly thought over the years about how my actions might have affected those who were my victims."