Knox reference underwhelming: Fotis

Daily Mail
April 28, 2015

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-3058506/Knox-reference-underwhelming-Fotis.html

A teacher who was asked to resign from an elite private school when he was charged with performing a sex act in public, expected to get a "richer" reference from the headmaster of Knox Grammar.

Christopher Fotis was asked to resign from the Sydney school in 1989 by the headmaster Ian Paterson.

He was given a reference which noted his enthusiasm for his job and his enormous help with extra-curricular events but which made no mention of why he was asked to leave or other complaints against him.

On Tuesday Fotis told a royal commission that it was a "pretty underwhelming" reference.

Fotis was later found guilty of obscene exposure after he was caught masturbating in his car on a street in Ryde, Sydney.

He was also suspected by teachers and students at Knox of being the balaclava-wearing intruder who sexually molested a year 8 boarder about a year before he resigned.

He told Tuesday's hearing that he knew nothing about the balaclava-incident until he read evidence from the commission which started a hearing into Knox in February.

Fotis who was allowed to pick his own date for leaving the school went on to work as a casual teacher in the NSW public system.

In his letter of resignation to Knox, Fotis said he was leaving for personal reasons and to spend more time with his family.

When asked by counsel assisting the commission David Lloyd if his letter was a complete account of why he was leaving he said: "It doesn't go into some of the subtleties".

His reasons for leaving Knox were personal, he was not enjoying it there, he said.

He said he never discussed with Dr Paterson what he was going to do after he left and the headmaster never asked him about the specifics of the charges against him.

The hearing on Tuesday was called to hear the former teacher's evidence.

He was arrested in Queensland earlier in April after a warrant was issued when he failed to appear in February.

His lawyer Margaret Bateman told the commission he did not appear at the initial hearing because he was not served with a summons.

Fotis who lives in the Hunter region of NSW said he did not appear because: "I was a free man, legally entitled to move about anywhere I wanted".

"I am a private person. This is a very public hearing."

He also denied that Dr Paterson had ever spoken to him about inappropriate behaviour.

He recalled one occasion when Dr Paterson "expressed concern that there was a perception amongst the boys that I was bisexual."

"He suggested that I act more like him."