Trinity head delegated responsibility over rape claims, by Sam Buckingham-Jones, Australian (October 24, 2016)

The headmaster of a prestigious inner Sydney independent school says he was unaware one of the school’s pupils had been raped repeatedly with a wooden dildo because he “delegated” the responsibility to find out what had happened and he was not told.

Milton Cujes, the headmaster of Trinity Grammar School in Sydney’s inner west, also told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse he didn’t follow up when reports of an incident were brought to him in August 2000, partly because they were brought to him “in the context of a Friday afternoon.”

Over months, the commission has previously heard, a student at the Anglican boys school was raped about 50 times by older pupils with a variety of items — including a wooden dildo. The student gave staff a written statement outlining what had happened.

However, Mr Cujes denied that details of the rape were brought to his attention, stressing he was only told was there were “junior boys involved in an altercation with some more senior boys”. It was recommended to him some of the boys should be suspended.

“How could you determine whether or not that was appropriate punishment unless you knew what the behaviour was that was being punished?” commission chair Peter McClellan asked.

“Your honour, I have no other answer than as I’ve mentioned before,” Mr Cujes said. “In the delegation of this matter to my senior staff, if they concluded it was a dormitory rumble, I accepted their conclusion.”

The commission heard Mr Cujes met with deputy headmaster Peter Green and former teacher Robert Scott on Friday August 11, 2000, who he said told him there had been an incident in the boarding house but did not give details.

“Did you have a discussion with Mr Green about whether (the student) was credible?” counsel assisting David Lloyd asked.

“I can’t recall,” Mr Cujes replied. “I don’t recall dealing in specific details other than receiving the report, a recommendation ensuring the safety of the boys ... Making a decision in the context of a Friday afternoon before Trial HSC exams were taking place for the next two weeks, involving the year 10 boys who were also doing public examination preparation.”

“You mentioned that this report came to you on Friday afternoon on more than one occasion,” Mr Lloyd said.

Mr Lloyd: “You don’t suggest, do you, Mr Cujes, that allegations of this kind made by (the student) didn’t deserve proper response because they came to light on a Friday afternoon, do you?”

Mr Cujes: “The lot of an independent school master is not governed by the clock. Our duty of responsibility in terms of pastoral care of our boys, particularly in the broaden house, is a 24 hour duty.

“If the recommendation was that we needed to do something then and there, we would have done it, but the recommendation I received was this was a dormitory rumble that went too far, we need to send a message.”

Mr Cujes admitted to Mr McClellan that Trinity had failed in its duty of care by not properly investigating allegations of abuse.

“We failed in that sense, yes, sir,” he said. “In hindsight, I agree with you, I should have initiated a more formal investigation.”

The commission has heard there was at least one other student was a victim of serious rape, but police and the Department of Community Services were not told for a month.

A former pupil of a distinguished independent school in Sydney’s west was repeatedly called a “cum rag” and “cum dumpster” by fellow students after another student ejaculated on his sleeping bag at a school camp.

The boy, who cannot be named, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse he was sleeping in a “hoochie” tent on a cadet camp with others from The King’s School at Parramatta in April 2013 when he awoke to laughter.

“I woke up to hear one of the boys saying ‘did you really do that?’,” the 19 year-old said. “(The student) had ejaculated on my sleeping bag. I immediately grabbed something to wipe it off.”

“On the bus ride back to school ... other boys were calling me ‘cum rag’ and ‘cum dumpster’.”

The former student said over the next year, he was bullied and embarrassed by other pupils, and at one point the school-wide Wi-Fi system was renamed “(the student’s name) is a cum rag”.

“Everyone could see the new name,” he said. “I felt embarrassed…the school held a meeting about it and two boys came forward and said they had done it. Previously, I had been friends with those boys.”

He left The King’s School and finished his studies at St Ignatius College at Riverview, where he said things were better.

The former pupil said he now has ongoing anxiety and is less confident than before, and believes staff at The King’s School opposed his attempts to complain.

He told the court he felt like he was going to be opposed by the school. “The culture at The Kings’s School was that you could stand up and make a complaint about the behaviour but then it would get worse. It was better to say nothing and hope for the best.”