NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald
A teacher alleged to have abused boys during music lessons at an elite school in Tasmania has been living in New Zealand for 40 years.
Ronald Thomas, 77, was named by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse investigating allegations of abuse at Hutchins School in Hobart in the late 1960s. It was believed he had fled to South Africa when police indicated he would be arrested, and had later died.
However, he was tracked down by The Australian newspaper to rural North Island dairy country where the now retired teacher lives with his same-sex partner.
During the Royal Commission’s inquiry, former Tasmanian police chief Richard McCreadie gave evidence that Thomas confessed to child abuse in 1970.
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