Kings Headmaster Dr Tim Hawkes Outraged at Handling of Child Sex Claims at Old School
By Nicole Chettle
The headmaster of Sydney's prestigious Kings School has told an inquiry he is outraged by the handling of child abuse complaints at Knox Grammar, where he was a teacher in the late 1980s. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told Dr Tim Hawkes was boarding master at MacNeill House when a sleeping teenager was indecently assaulted by a man wearing a balaclava in around 1988. Dr Hawkes said he alerted the headmaster at the time, Dr Ian Paterson, immediately, and trusted authorities would be informed. "I felt that I had been faithful and effective in the exercise of my duty in alerting him to the incident," he said. "I was given very, very firm assurances by the headmaster that the matter was going to be dealt with properly and appropriately. "I believed him and fully expected him to take all those necessary actions which included notifying the police." Dr Hawkes said that when he left Knox Grammar School in 1989 he was only aware of one sexual assault - the "balaclava man" incident. "What I now know is an extraordinary litany of betrayal, predatory activity, and it has broken my heart," he said. "The welfare of students is something which for me is absolutely vital, and indeed a great part of my own professional career has been spent professionalising the Australian boarding industry. "It was my particular privilege to write the major training course for boarding staff in Australia and indeed to be an active mover to the adoption of national boarding standards. "My heart does break and I feel, as I think many of the existing Knox community, the past Knox community and the boys, a huge anger and a real sense of betrayal and it stays with me to this day." Former student 'saw principal groping girl' Earlier, another former Knox Grammar School student told the commission he witnessed Dr Paterson inappropriately touch a girl during a school musical rehearsal in 1989. Lucy Perry told the inquiry on Tuesday that Dr Paterson touched her buttocks and placed his hand near her genitals, on the outside of her costume.
On Wednesday, Dr Paterson denied groping Ms Perry, who is now the chief executive of the women's health charity Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia. However, the boy she was partnered with for the show said he saw the incident from the floor of the school's assembly hall. "Dr Paterson hit her on the buttocks but I wouldn't call it a pat because his hand stayed there," AUE said. "It was a prolonged hit, more of a grope. "Lucy had to almost jump out of his grasp and she turned and she gave a small scream of surprise. "And then I noticed that Dr Paterson had a grin on his face." He said he decided to come forward because a barrister who cross examined Ms Perry claimed she was lying and he felt he needed to corroborate her story. Abuse destroyed former student's life Another former student, who the ABC will not identify, told the inquiry he was abused as a year six student in 2003 by teacher Craig Treloar, who was later sentenced to four and a half years' jail for indecent assault. The man said he had made several suicide attempts, and went from being a promising student to a troubled teenager who was unable to concentrate in class. He said Mr Treloar befriended him and offered ginger beer in his classroom, before one day assaulting him there after "blacking out" the windows. "He made his classroom very dark, which was something all my friends were talking about," he said. "Apparently he was doing it for some sort of special effect, but I don't remember what the effect was." The man said he was terrified after the attack and was left with blood in his underwear. When he fled, crying, he said another teacher asked what was wrong but did not pursue him when he ran away. "The abuse I witnessed and suffered at Knox was horrible," he said. "It destroyed my chance at a normal education and I believe it has destroyed a lot of my life so far. "It has forced me to leave school before graduating because whenever I spent time at school I was reminded of what happened to me at Knox." The man told the commission he was admitted to hospital last week, after being traumatised when he saw the current headmaster, Dr John Weeks, and his predecessor, Dr Paterson, at the hearing.
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