AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail
Former principal of prestigious Geelong Grammar school describes the sexual abuse suffered by students as ‘modest’
By LIAM QUINN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
A former principal at a prestigious school in Geelong, Victoria, has described sexual abuse suffered by some students as ‘comparatively modest’.
Ex-Geelong Grammar headmaster John Lewis made the comments during an appearance at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne.
‘It’s worse than nil, but you are – if I may say so – creating the impression that sexual abuse was rife. It is not, in my opinion, a fair description of the overall situation,’ Mr Lewis said.
‘Any such incident is very, very serious but the scale of the alleged incidents that had occurred was, in the scheme of things, comparatively modest.’
Mr Lewis – principal from 1980 to 1994 – also denied his school was an unsafe place for students by September 1991. Mr Lewis was also headmaster of Eton College from 1994 to 2002, and taught Princes William and Harry.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.