Report of Case Study No. 9 ...

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
June 4, 2015

http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=cea54ce3-7faa-49eb-9a91-0eac8136b2f4&lang=en-US

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REPORT OF CASE STUDY NO. 9 :The responses of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide, and the South Australian Police, to allegations of child sexual abuse at St Ann’s Special School

Executive summary

St Ann’s Special School was located in Adelaide in South Australia. St Ann’s was owned and operated by Catholic Special Schools Incorporated (CSSI). It was established in 1975 and became Our Lady of La Vang School in 2013.

The school catered for students with intellectual disabilities ranging from a moderate to profound level of severity. Many of the children enrolled at the school had limited communication abilities. There were between 50 and 60 students at the school. They were aged between five and 20 years old.

Mr Brian Perkins was born on 20 February 1936. In 1956 he was convicted of abduction of a child by force or fraud. He was sentenced to a three-year good behaviour bond. In 1968, he was convicted of carnal knowledge or attempted carnal knowledge and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. In 1974, he was convicted of carnal knowledge or attempted carnal knowledge and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment and a $50 fine. He also had previous convictions in South Australia and Victoria between 1952 and 1974 for larceny and minor dishonesty offences.

Mr Claude Hamam was the principal of St Ann’s from September 1985 to December 1996.

Mr Perkins applied for a job at St Ann’s as a bus driver. The job required him to take children with intellectual and communication disabilities to and from the school each day while unsupervised.