Royal commission: former Knox headmaster Ian Paterson's testimony ...

By Rachel Browne And Melanie Kembrey
Sydney Morning Herald
March 3, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/royal-commission-former-knox-headmaster-ian-patersons-testimony-raises-more-questions-than-answers-20150303-13txkk.html

Former Knox headmaster Ian Paterson told the commission "controlling the reputation of the school never once entered my head". Photo by Christopher Pearce

Royal commission: former Knox headmaster Ian Paterson's testimony raises more questions than answers

After six days of damning claims that Dr Ian Paterson actively covered up evidence of child sexual abuse during his time as headmaster of Knox Grammar School, the time had come for him to explain the inexplicable.

Why did he fail to inform the police when he learned that teachers at his school were, at best, behaving inappropriately with students? Why did he allow one teacher, Craig Treloar, to continue working at the school after being caught watching hard core pornography with students? Why did he allow suspect teachers to "resign" with glowing references which allowed them to go on to work at other schools?

These are questions the 81-year-old former headmaster grappled with in the stand before a hearing room packed with old boys, their families and supporters at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

As is the case with many who give evidence at this royal commission, Dr Paterson issued a sincere apology before undergoing questioning by counsel assisting David Lloyd.

"As headmaster I am responsible for all that occurs during my headmastership," he began.

"There were matters that I knew about and other matters that I did not. However, without doubt 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 went on to say his effort to provide a safe and secure place at the Wahroonga school was an "abject failure".

"I accept the 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," he said.

Dr Paterson was headmaster of the school from 1969 to 1998 and, according to witness testimony, was either respected, feared or viewed with contempt as "the snake".

His former assistant headmaster, Dr John Rentoul, described him in evidence as: "a good headmaster, he was efficient and thorough and he was respected by his staff".

Dr Rentoul's son David was abused by former Knox music teacher Barrie Stewart, who was later convicted of multiple sexual offences against students. David died from multiple organ failure at the age of 44, with his father blaming the stress of the abuse.

With the benefit of hindsight, Dr Paterson admitted he should have informed the police about instances of abuse.

In a comment which elicited groans of disbelief from observers, Dr Paterson said he did not realise it was a crime for a teacher to grope and proposition a student.

When attempting to explain why police were not called after a balaclava-clad man broke into a boarding house and sexually assaulted a year 8 boy, he simply said: "I did not think about the police at all."

When asked why background checks were not regularly made on school employees, Dr Paterson said: "The times were quite different then. We judged people very much ourselves by making our own judgments on people."

What is harder to explain is how a headmaster could have been unaware of legislation requiring teaching staff to report claims of sexual abuse to the authorities, introduced in 1988.

He told the commission he could not recall being told about the legislation, nor could he remember his staff undergoing training in the law.

He was certainly at a loss when asked about the references he provided for teachers he knew to be suspect.

Despite being aware religious education teacher Christopher Fotis had been arrested for masturbating outside a school, he was provided with a reference which sung his praises.

"I have no understanding of why I wrote that reference," he said.

When asked whether he was attempting to protect the reputation of the school in not reporting serious matters to the police, he responded: "Controlling the reputation of the school never once entered my head."

It was an often heard phrase in Dr Paterson's evidence. Many things did not cross his mind, did not occur to him or simply did not enter his head. Which may explain a lot.