Knox Grammar: Former principal Ian Paterson 'didn't think' to alert police to alleged indecent assault

By Nicole Chettle
ABC News
March 3, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-03/former-principal-apologises-to-knox-grammar-abuse-victims/6276478

Former headmaster at Sydney's Knox Grammar, Ian Paterson, says he should have known about the abuse of boys at the school.

A former headmaster of Sydney's Knox Grammar School, Ian Paterson, "didn't think" to alert police when a man wearing a balaclava allegedly indecently assaulted a student in his bed in 1988, an inquiry has heard.

At Sydney hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, Dr Paterson rejected counsel assisting David Lloyd's description of the incident as "very grave" and said he would reserve that term for rape.

Dr Paterson said he suspected former teacher Christopher Fotis was behind the attack on the sleeping student but had no proof.

An arrest warrant is outstanding for Mr Fotis for failing to appear at the commission.

Dr Paterson denied telling students an Asian man who had broken into the school and had since been arrested over the incident.

"'Even with the best of my imaginative powers I could not have thought of that," replied Dr Paterson.

Dr Paterson said when he spoke to the boys he was trying to hose down speculation about what had happened.

"There was so much speculation going on in the house and in the school that the thrust of my talk was: 'Boys, just leave it in our hands. We are investigating it. Please keep your speculation to a minimum and lets move on'," he told the inquiry.

Police were never informed about the incident.

The commission has been examining Dr Paterson's handling of the issue at the school, where concerns were made about inappropriate conduct by a number of teachers between 1970 and 2012.

Dr Paterson denied that the reputation of the school was more important than the interests of the boys.

"I can assure you that the thought of advancing or controlling the reputation of the school never once entered my head," he said.

During evidence it emerged that Dr Paterson had concerns about the behaviour of Mr Fotis but still thought he was suitable to teach religious education and that the problems in the boarding house were separate to the broader school.

The headmaster later learned Mr Fotis had a previous conviction for sexual assault and he was asked to leave but allowed to submit his resignation, citing family reasons.

Dr Paterson acknowledged this explanation was "entirely false" but said he never recorded the reason behind Mr Fotis's departure, and later provided him with a reference.

"Mr Fotis is an enthusiast for his job," the reference read out during the hearing stated.

"He is meticulous in his preparation and definite in the standards he expects from his students.

"He has been of enormous help to the chaplain in teaching religious education."

Mr Lloyd pointed out the reference failed to mention Mr Fotis had been asked to leave and was suspected of committing a sexual assault against a student.

Dr Paterson acknowledged this was "grossly misleading".

The commission heard Dr Paterson also provided a reference for another teacher, Roger James, whom he had banned from running school camps because his behaviour around boys was "too close, in a counselling sense".

"We had him under control in the school," he said.

"But if he went up to Camp Knox without supervision we were concerned."

Dr Paterson later provided a reference for Mr James, who was planning to work in New Zealand, citing his work at "Camp Knox".

Mr Lloyd asked if he had spared a thought when writing the reference for the students who might fall under Mr James' care at the New Zealand school.

"No," said Dr Paterson but that "on reflection" he should have.

Mr James was later convicted on two counts of assaulting a male and committing an act of indecency.

Dr Ian Paterson further revealed he did not question a teacher he had heard was about to face litigation for sexually abusing a student.

The inquiry heard preparatory school head Bob Thomas told Dr Paterson about the case involving teacher Barrie Stewart in 1992.

Mr Stewart was later convicted of indecent and sexual assault relating to seven students.

Mr Lloyd asked Dr Paterson why he did not immediately act after hearing the allegation.

"You didn't think that it was a appropriate to ask a teacher that you currently employed and knew to be teaching very young boys whether an allegation of sexual molestation of a student had any basis?" he asked.

"That's correct," Dr Paterson replied.

"Would you agree that that is a dreadful state of affairs?" Mr Lloyd asked.

"It's unthinkable," was the response.

Dr Paterson was also questioned about his handling of a case involving a 15-year-old boy who told him he had been groped and propositioned by a teacher in 1989.

Dr Paterson told the boy it was a serious allegation and instructed him in the library and think about what he had said.

The teacher, Damian Vance, admitted the allegation and was later convicted of sexual assault.

Dr Paterson told counsel assisting he asked Mr Vance to leave the school but did not contact police or make a record of the incident.

Dr Paterson said he accepted that he did not have to apply today's standards to realise that what was he was told was a very serious matter.

However, he did not agree that it clearly was a matter for the police.

"No I'm not aware that that was a matter for the police or a crime," he said.

Dr Paterson earlier apologised to those who suffered sexual abuse at the school for failing to provide "a safe and secure place".

He said he should have known about the sexual abuse of boys in his care over a period of more than 30 years.

He acknowledged he was responsible for what happened at the elite boys' school during his time as headmaster during the 1970s through to the 1990s.

"I should have known and I should have stopped the events which led to the abuse and its tragic consequences for those boys in my care and their families," he said.

"Reading your statements, watching your stories unfold has been shocking and heart-rending.

"My abject failure to provide for you a safe and secure place at Knox strikes at the very heart of a responsibility of a headmaster. I commend your courage in coming forward.

"Knowing that I was your headmaster when much of this abuse occurred is devastating.

"An apology for the hurt suffered by you and your families seems totally inadequate. Yet I do so with an awful feeling of uselessness in my heart.

"I accept that decisions I made were wrong. And that I failed to recognise and hence respond sufficiently to events that we now know were indicators of a sinister and much bigger picture.

"A picture of serious sexual abuse that would damage the lives of so many."

Dr Paterson's apology was made before the commission began to hear evidence from him about his knowledge and management of teachers who abused students at the school.