Royal Commission into Sex Abuse: Seven Key Knox Grammar Figures
By Adrian John Nisbett
CONVICTED: Adrian John Nisbett (above) Popular English teacher who worked at the school from 1971-2004. Arrested over sexual offences in 2009 and given a suspended sentence. Current principal John Weeks told the royal commission in February 2015 he believed former head master Ian Paterson was covering for Nisbett and wanted to sack him when he became headmaster. Nisbett was allowed to resign. Unable to be summonsed, he now lives in South Africa and is working for a cheetah conservation reserve in Namibia
CONVICTED: Damien Vance (above) English and French teacher who was asked to leave the school two years after indecently assaulting a student. Royal commission told Vance received a glowing reference from the school praising his teaching skills, despite having indecently assaulted one student and physically assaulted two others. Arrested in 2009, convicted and released on a good behaviour bond. Told the commission he had previously hit two boys at the school, in 1985 and 1986. Now a cleaner in Melbourne. CONVICTED: Roger James Science teacher between 1974-77. Resigned to take up a teaching position in New Zealand. Arrested for sex offences in 2009, convicted and given a suspended sentence. A 14-year-old victim told the royal commission in March 2015 he did not complain about the abuse at the time because of the culture of cover-up at the school. Boys who did speak up were "victimised and ostracised," he said. "They were seen as weak and they became everybody's bitch."
CONVICTED: Craig Treloar (above) Knox old boy. Resident master and teacher; taught at the school from 1982 until his arrest in 2009. Treloar was convicted on multiple charges of child sex abuse in 2010 and served two years in jail. Denied to the royal commission in February 2015 he forced children to perform sex acts with him, saying that he allowed the boys to touch him. Said he was shocked when he wasn't sacked after the pornography claims surfaced. Now unemployed. CONVICTED: Barrie Stewart Music teacher and "notorious groper". Arrested in 2009, convicted of multiple counts of indecent assault and sexual assault relating to seven students. Given a suspended sentence. Former assistant headmaster John Rentoul told the commission in February 2015 his son David was molested by Stewart.
HEADMASTER: Dr Ian Paterson (above) Principal of Knox Grammar from 1969 until 1998. Students referred to him as "the snake". Allegations to the royal commission that Dr Paterson had knowledge of abuse and even allegedly signed a reference letter for one of the teachers he knew was involved. Accused in March 2015 by Roseville College student Lucy Perry of sexual abuse backstage at a school performance in 1989 when she was 16. Paterson told the royal commission on March 3 he didn't know it was illegal to sexually proposition a student and that he was an 'abject failure'. The commission has heard there is no evidence he referred any sex abuse matters to the police.
ARREST WARRANT: Christopher Fotis (above) Religious education instructor, pictured above, suspected of being the so-called "balaclava man" who assaulted a year 8 boy in his bed at a school boarding house in 1988 that was under the supervision of Dr Timothy Hawkes (below), now head of the Kings School. Fotis was arrested in 1989 for masturbating in his car while parked outside a school in North Ryde. Dr Paterson provided Fotis with a reference letter in which he described him as an "enthusiast". Warrant issued for his arrest in February 2015 for failure to appear at the royal commission. Whereabouts unknown since mid-February 2015.
1924: Knox Grammar School first established as a Presbyterian Church School. 1969: Dr Ian Paterson becomes headmaster. 1970s: Allegation of "inappropriate behaviour" first surface, involving teachers Barrie Stewart, Roger James and Adrian Nisbett. Former assistant headmaster John Rentoul weeps as he tells the royal commission about the discovery his son, David, was molested by Knox music teacher Barrie Stewart in the late 1970s. 1980s: Rumours of sexual abuse circulate more widely. 1986: Christopher Fotis employed as religious education instructor despite having convictions for assaulting a female and offensive behaviour. 1987: Craig Treloar disciplined for watching hardcore pornography, including paedophilia and bestiality, with boys but allowed to keep his job. Damien Vance indecently assaults a boy in a room under the chapel. General duties master Stuart Pearson reports Treloar to Dr Paterson after a boy alleged the teacher had propositioned him for sex. Pearson told the royal commission in February 2015 he was "gobsmacked" Treloar and Nisbett were working at the school years after he reported them to Paterson. 1988: A masked man, believed to be Fotis, sexually assaults a boy in his bed in a boarding house at the school. 1989: Vance asked to leave. Fotis asked to leave later that year after being caught masturbating outside a school in North Ryde. Headmaster Ian Paterson alleged to have sexually abused 16-year-old Roseville College student Lucy Perry backstage. 1990s: Sixteen-year-old student ATQ forms a sexual relationship with his resident housemaster. Warns another housemaster that Knox is a "paedophile ring" but nothing done in response. 1999: New principal Peter Crawley initiates investigation into Adrian Nisbett. 2009: Nisbett, Treloar, Stewart, James and Vance arrested and later convicted of multiple sex charges. Emails tendered in evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse reveal an unnamed solicitor had recommended the destruction of documents in 2009, following the arrests of the five teachers who abused children.
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