Knox Grammar Headmaster Tells Inquiry Abusers Are Men of Shame

The Guardian
February 26, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/27/knox-grammar-headmaster-tells-inquiry-abusers-are-men-of-shame

The current headmaster of Knox Grammar school has apologised to child sexual abuse victims and called them “men of integrity”. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Staff who abused boys at Knox Grammar have been condemned as “men of shame” by the headmaster of the Sydney private school.

John Weeks, headmaster at the Wahroonga school since 2004, is giving evidence at a royal commission hearing into how Knox and the Uniting church handled abuse allegations over a 30-year-period.

He said he wanted to apologise to the victims and their families for the pain they had suffered.

In 2007, Weeks apologised on behalf of the school and said on Friday that he realised no amount of apology could change what happened.

“I do want to say to the young men, here and listening, to the survivors, that I sincerely apologise for the sexual abuse inflicted upon you as young innocent boys,” he told the hearing in Sydney. “There is absolutely no excuse.”

He said he would like to say to the victims who have stood up and come forward: “You are the men of integrity. Those who abused you are the men of shame.”

“To the men who were sexually abused as young boys, I want you to know this: you did nothing wrong,” he said. “Those teachers and residents did. And they do stand condemned by their own admissions.”

Weeks assured them they would get continuing support from the school and its council.

The commission also heard on Friday that the head of the Uniting church in New South Wales, Jim Mein, has been implicated in the destruction of documents relating to the abuse of students at Knox.

The former head of the school council, Robert Wannan, was questioned about a series of emails in 2009 regarding draft apologies from the school relating to abuse by teachers.

Wannan received an email from a solicitor for the school and it was sent to a number of people, including Dwane Feehley, who handled insurance for the Uniting Church.

Feehley in turn sent an email to another person warning: “Keep an eye on this we are dealing with a range of political issues, Jim is quite a problem for us at the moment”.

Wannan, who had not seen the Feehley email until just before the commission hearing on Friday, said he assumed this was a reference to Jim Mein.

The email continues: “The solicitor who drafted this is the one who had been advising the school to destroy documents, with Jim [sic] assistance.”

He denied having any knowledge about the destruction of documents.