Former Knox teacher Christopher Fotis denies knowing of assault on student

By Bridie Jabour
Guardian
April 27, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/apr/28/former-knox-teacher-christopher-fotis-denies-knowing-of-assault-on-student

Christopher Fotis after giving evidence at the royal commission regarding an assault on a boy during his time as a Knox Grammar house master. Photo by Dan Himbrechts

A former teacher at Sydney’s prestigious Knox Grammar school who was suspected of assaulting a student in his bed has told an abuse inquiry he did not attend when called to its hearings in February because he is a “private man”.

Christopher Fotis, 52, took the stand at a reconvened hearing of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse on Tuesday.

He denied ever hearing about the sexual assault of a student in 1988 which became known as the “balaclava man incident”. He told the commission the first he heard of it was from the hearings.

The commission had heard Fotis was a resident master at MacNeil house at the time and was widely suspected as the person seen running away from the house in an old Knox tracksuit and balaclava, after a student, known as ARN, had his genitals groped by the same man who was lying beneath his bed.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of Fotis in February when he failed to appear at the commission after being summoned but Fotis’s counsel, Margaret Bateman, said he was not served with a summons.

“I was a free man, legally entitled to move about anywhere I wanted. I’m a private person, this is a very public hearing and I suppose if any reason, it comes down to that,” he said when asked by counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd, if there was any reason he did not appear.

When asked about the sexual assault of the student in the bed, Fotis said he did not hear about the incident at the time.

“Is that seriously your evidence?” Lloyd asked after noting the commission has repeatedly heard from different witnesses that news of the incident “spread like wildfire” at the time.

Fotis repeated that he denied any knowledge of the incident. The commission has heard a teacher banged on Fotis’s door as the boys raised a commotion and he didn’t answer.

Asked if it was “extraordinary” he was not woken by the noise of the boys or the teacher, Fotis responded: “I don’t know about extraordinary, I’ve slept through earthquakes in Greece so I can’t agree to that.”

Fotis, himself a former Knox student, was hired as a teacher at the school in 1987 and told the commission he was not asked for references, nor was a criminal history check done.

He was asked to leave in 1989 when he was charged with unlawful exposure after being caught masturbating in a car. When asked about the circumstances of the charge, Fotis said “It was alleged my person could be seen from a public place.”

“Do you mean your penis?” Lloyd responded.

To which Fotis responded “yes”.

“I was in my car yes … I wasn’t aware of people being around at the time, I found out later,” he said.

Fotis said he was asked to leave the school by the headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson, and in his resignation letter he said it was for “personal reasons” and did not mention his impending appearance in court.

“It [the resignation letter] didn’t go into subtleties … the reasons were personal, I could at least ask to be stood down until the matter was resolved but there was an overriding concern that I really didn’t enjoy working at Knox anymore and I did miss my family a great deal,” he said.

“I had been travelling three to four times a week from the south coast, my relationship really was on the rocks and I was afraid of losing my daughter.”

Fotis received a reference from the school, which he described as “underwhelming” and took up casual work in the Catholic school system before deciding to stop teaching altogether.

“I reached the conclusion I didn’t have the temperament or patience for teaching … and I resolved never to do it again,” he said.

Fotis said he was not required to consent to a criminal check to work at the schools.

A question from Lloyd about whether Fotis had a criminal record was objected to by Fotis’s counsel.

Fotis also denied being caught by another teacher at Knox in the laundry room “doing something with the boys’ socks”.