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Former Knox Grammar teacher thought he'd be fired after being caught showing porn
By Bridie Jabour
Convicted paedophile Craig Treloar, who was allowed to teach – and allegedly abuse – children even after being caught showing students porn, gives evidence to royal commission Former Knox Grammar school teacher and convicted paedophile Craig Treloar has told how he first thought his career was over in the 1980s when he was caught showing porn to students, but he went on to teach and allegedly abuse at the school into the next century. Treloar was questioned about when he was first caught behaving inappropriately with students as he gave evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse hearings on Knox Grammar on Wednesday. In 1987 Treloar was called to the office of the headmaster, Ian Paterson, after a boy made a complaint about Treloar showing porn to students in his room. “I was quite distressed. I thought my career was over,” Treloar said of the meeting. Asked by counsel assisting the royal commission, David Lloyd, what he thought was going to happen, Treloar responded: “I’d be sacked.” Treloar said he could not recall if Paterson asked him during the meeting if his inappropriate behaviour with the boys went any further than showing them porn. “If he asked me if there was anything else beyond the videos I most likely would have said no because I would have been too scared,” Treloar said. Asked if he knew that if boys had been interviewed in 1987, and told the truth, it would have revealed the nature of his abuse, Treloar responded: “Yes.” No investigation was launched at the time. Treloar was suspended from Knox for six months without pay for showing the boys the porn. The matter was not reported to the police and he returned to work at Knox once the suspension was over. Treloar was convicted of the sexual assault of three boys in 2010. The royal commission has heard numerous further allegations of abuse against him. The commission has heard of Treloar persuading boys to masturbate him and asking them to give him oral sex. These assaults were mostly alleged to have occurred after Treloar showed the boys pornography, which depicted heterosexual sex acts, homosexual acts, bestiality and young boys involved in sex acts with older men. Treloar said some of his convictions related to when he “let” boys touch him, but he was questioned by Peter Skinner, who is representing three of the victims. “Do you have any self-awareness how offensive it is to suggest they wanted to [touch you]?” Skinner asked after Treloar confirmed he was referring to boys masturbating him. Skinner continued: “You forced them to touch you,” to which Treloar replied: “No”. Treloar said he was remorseful about what he had done. “Of course I have remorse, from the moment the videos were exposed in 1987 I’ve had to live with that, I’ve constantly thought over the years about how my actions might affect my victims,” Treloar said. He responded with a simple “yes” when Skinner said a great deal of damage had been done. Nodding his head slightly and closing his eyes, Treloar responded with a soft “yes” as he was asked to confirm each of his convictions. Sitting in the public gallery while Treloar gave his evidence was the witness known as ATU whose son, ATS, was abused by Treloar in 2002. The day before she gave evidence that her son went into a psychotic spiral which involved a serious suicide attempt and hundreds of days in hospital after Treloar abused him. Former head of the Knox Grammar school preparatory school, Michael Jenkinson, told the hearing he had no inkling students were being abused. He said he was aware that Treloar had been suspended over pornography but had “no knowledge of the level of depravity” of it, thinking it was the “least evil kind”. Treloar then went on to teach in the preparatory school and Jenkinson said he did not seek more information on Treloar’s previous suspension because he trusted the Knox council’s judgment. “During my time at Knox preparatory ... my recollection was that it was a very happy place. In my opinion the teachers provided an exciting and stimulating environment and teachers were liked and respected for their professionalism. However the awful revelations of sexual abuse by two well-known and respected members of my staff has long destroyed any sense of achievement I had,” he said. “The lives of these boys, now men, have been destroyed. For this I wholeheartedly apologise to these boys and their families, knowing full well how inadequate these words are.”
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