Geelong Grammar Sex Abuse Victims Told to Talk to Commission

By Tessa Akerman
The Australian
June 10, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/geelong-grammar-sex-abuse-victims-told-to-talk-to-commission/story-fngburq5-1227390352384&memtype=anonymous

The handling of child sexual abuse by Australia’s most prestigious private school, Geelong Grammar, could be aired for the first time after the royal commission into child sex abuse called for victims to come forward.

The call came as it was ­reported yesterday that an ­exclusive Melbourne school, Scotch College, could face fresh claims of abuse of its students.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday asked anyone who was sexually abused or knew of sexual abuse at Geelong Grammar to contact the commission.

In 2005 former Geelong Grammar staff member Phillipe Trutmann pleaded guilty to abusing more than 40 boys under the age of 16 while he was working as a boarding house assistant at the school’s Highton campus between 1985-95. The charges included 19 counts of gross ­indecency, 22 counts of ­indecent acts with a child and one count of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to ­6? years’ jail.

In a letter sent to school community members last month, principal Stephen Meek wrote that Geelong Grammar had provided the commission with ­material relating to conduct by some former staff members since the 1960s.