Knox Grammar Inquiry: Destroying Documents ‘discussed by Advisers’
By Ean Higgins
THE current headmaster of Knox Grammar School, John Weeks, believed a teacher, Adrian Nisbett, had committed criminal child sexual abuse but chose to allow him to resign rather than sack him, and waited three years to report him to police. Mr Weeks also allowed a pedophile teacher, Craig Treloar, to remain on staff for two years until he was arrested, knowing that he had shown a pornographic video to a boy while plying him with cigarettes and alcohol, and asked the boy to perform a sexual act which the boy refuse Treloar, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard today, continued to coach sports teams right up to his arrest, although, Mr Weeks said, he had understood he had been removed from those duties. While Mr Weeks did talk to police about Treloar, this was not until some years after he became headmaster when, he said, he received further information. Mr Weeks said he had acted at all times on advice, which suggested he should above all try to avoid grounds for wrongful dismissal or industrial “knockback”. Mr Weeks started his evidence with an extensive apology, saying to the many boys sexually abused by Knox teachers who reported it to police “you are the men of integrity, those who abused you are the men of shame”. The inquiry into the prestigious Sydney private day and boarding school heard this morning that Mr Weeks received an extensive report in 2004 from a private investigator about Nisbett. After some months of investigation, the private investigator found many serious allegations against Nisbett to be proven, and some others not proven, but not disproved. Those included Nisbett rubbing a boy in a sexual fashion in his darkroom, watching boys naked in the showers, and asking boys if they were sexually attracted to men. But while Mr Weeks informed the Ombudsman of the evidence against Nisbett, he did not inform the police because, he said, the Ombudsman did not direct him to do so. Not until three years later, when he received more information on Treloar, did he go to police about both teachers, after the Ombudsman suggested he should. Nisbett and Treloar were two of five teachers arrested in 2009 for sexual offences against Knox boys, after the former students came forward to police, and all were convicted. Evidence before the Commission this week revealed long-running and widely discussed concerns among staff about Nisbett, such as his practice of going out to sports fields to watch boys changing. Mr Weeks said he had been told that under a previous headmaster, Nisbett had been “a protected species ... protected by the headmaster”. Mr Weeks said he commissioned the report into Nisbett by a private investigator, and when he got it, “I would have sacked the man on the spot”. But he said “procedural fairness must be undertaken”. Cross-examined by the counsel assisting the inquiry, David Lloyd, Mr Weeks said the professional advice he received was that “even on all of this, there was not enough to sack him.” Mr Lloyd asked: “Really?” Mr Weeks said this was the first such investigation he had been involved in, and he wanted to get it right. Mr Weeks said he moved Nisbett to a residence off campus, and changed his duties to communications, ensuring he had no further contact with students. Mr Lloyd repeatedly raised the issue of why Mr Weeks did not report Nisbett to the police. Mr Lloyd put to Mr Weeks that the allegations the private investigator had found to be proven amounted to “serious criminal conduct”, to which Mr Weeks replied, “that’s right”. He said he was “amazed” that the Ombudsman did not recommend the school refer the matter to police, and provide them with the investigator’s report. Mr Weeks agreed in other cross-examination that it would have considerably speeded up the conviction of Nisbett had he taken those steps in 2004, but Mr Weeks again said the Ombudsman had signed off on the school’s actions. Mr Weeks agreed he could have sacked Nisbett, but again on advice, decided to let him resign to “avoid industrial knockback.” The commission heard this morning that Nisbett could not be summoned to appear, because he was in South Africa. Advisers ‘discussed destroying documents’ Advisers to Knox Grammar School discussed destroying documents, possibly with the help of the head of the Uniting Church in NSW, when news broke that teachers had been arrested for sexually assaulting students, an inquiry heard this morning. In sensational evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the counsel assisting the Commission, David Lloyd, revealed an email chain when cross-examining a former chairman of the school council, Robert Wannan. ‘Not duty’ to tell police of sex abuse One email in July 2009 was from Dwayne Feehely, whom Mr Wannan identified as working for the Uniting Church in relation to insurance in the expectation of the school receiving civil claims over the sexual abuse, to a Gavin Lee. Ultimate control of Knox, a prestigious Sydney private day boy and boarding school, is vested in the Uniting Church. Mr Feehely wrote in the email to Mr Lee: “Keep an eye on all of this, we are dealing with a range of political issues, Jim is quite a problem for us at present.” Mr Wannan agreed with Mr Lloyd that the “Jim” referred to in the email was likely to be James Mein, the then moderator of the Uniting Church in NSW and the ACT. The email then said: “The solicitor who drafted this is one who has been advising the school to destroy documents, with Jim’s assistance.” Mr Wannan, a solicitor who was the chairman of the school council in 2009 when news of the arrests of the Knox teachers broke, was then cross-examined by Mr Lloyd. Mr Lloyd: “Do you deny that you were at any time involved in giving advice to Knox Grammar to destroy documents?” Mr Wannan: “I emphatically deny that.” Mr Wannan said he had no knowledge of any discussion where the possibility of destroying documents was mentioned. The inquiry into Knox has heard evidence that documents relating to the child sexual abuse by at least six teachers were missing. Over a 33-year period, which mostly coincided with the tenure of former headmaster Ian Paterson, not one incident of suspected child sexual abuse was reported to police, and the perpetrators were only brought to justice when some former students came forward in 2009. In evidence on Thursday, the headmaster who replaced Dr Paterson, Peter Crawley, said that when he was being briefed by Dr Paterson for the handover, the outgoing headmaster had told him that if any issues of untoward behaviour by staff came up, he could find details in a black folder in a back office. Mr Crawley said that when he found the folder a few days later, it only contained unconnected “snippets”, mostly handwritten, which provided no consistent indication of sexual abuse by staff. Mr Mein is expected to give evidence today. A former teacher suspected of being the “Balaclava Man” who allegedly sexually abused a boy by hiding under his bed wearing a balaclava, Christopher Fotis, has not answered a summons, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. At the opening of today’s hearing, Mr Lloyd said: “I just want to update your Honour in relation to Mr Fotis. “ “We are instructed that the warrant remains outstanding. Mr Fotis has not been located.”
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