It was a scandal that rocked the Queensland, Australia regional city of Toowoomba. Toowoomba is in the mountains about 127 km northwest of Brisbane, which is on the east central coast of Australia.
In 2010, a veteran teacher from a primary school in Toowoomba faced court for child sex offences committed against 13 girls between 2007 and 2008. Gerard Byrnes is still serving his 10 year prison sentence.
But today the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will turn its attention to how the primary school staff and Catholic Church officials dealt with the allegations when they emerged in 2007.
Monique Scattini represented the families of five victims who took legal action.
MONIQUE SCATTINI: Neither the principal of the school or the teacher reported the matter to police. The teacher wasn't suspended, he remained in the class for the last term, and then the whole new school year in 2008, where sadly went on to abuse more of the young girls.
And it could have been absolutely preventable if anyone in Catholic Education had done their job.
Janette Dines is the CEO of the Royal Commission.
JANETTE DINES: This is quite confronting I think for a lot of people who might have thought that abuse was in the past. What is also quite striking about this case is the fact that the abuse against these girls, who were all aged eight to 10 at the time, occurred predominantly in the classroom, in front of other children.
And I think the other striking thing is the fact that this isn't a case, where there weren't systems and procedures; there actually were systems and procedures in place and they had been accredited. But still there was something that prevented the strong application of those - and in this case, the abuse not just continued but escalated after the first complaints were made.
Hetty Johnston, the founder of Bravehearts, a long time advocate for victims, is optimistic about the public hearing.
HETTY JOHNSTON: They are getting to the crux of matters they are taking no prisoners. And the ramifications for this - they are not just going to affect Australia's children and organisations, the threads of this lead right around the globe. We can always hope and pray.
But she says the Royal Commission must expand its inquiry. The Family Law Courts have been left out of this entirely. It's as though the shutters have come down, and they've said well, you can look in the churches, and you can go anywhere else, but don't you come looking in here.
And Bravehearts are determined to go looking there, and we are going to go looking in there. We are going to do this investigation, we have some private funding to make that happen and we cannot let this opportunity go.
The inquiry heard that the Catholic principal encouraged a parent to let the school deal with child sex abuse complaints against a teacher rather than police, an inquiry has heard.
The father, known as KQ, says his daughter, known as KA, told him she had been touched on her breast by her teacher at a Queensland primary school in September 2007.
KQ has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he had immediately called the principal to report the allegations.
A few days later KQ and his daughter had a meeting at the school with the principal and a student protection officer.
KQ says they told him there were two ways to deal with his daughter's complaint - to treat it as an informal complaint and for the school to handle it internally, or make a formal complaint in writing and call in child protection officers and police.
KQ told the inquiry he was unsure how serious the complaint against the teacher was, and that the principal gave him the impression it would be easier to deal with informally.
"I expected the school would look after things," KQ told the inquiry, which is sitting in Brisbane.
"I did not know they had a duty to tell police. I still carry a lot of guilt about the matter."
The mother of another abuse victim told the inquiry she noticed injuries on her daughter indicating that she had been physically abused.
Police told the mother, known as KR, that her daughter, known as KE, may have been abused by her teacher, and two formal complaints were made to police.
A week later the principal turned up their house unannounced and asked if he could speak to the girl.
"I got the impression he was trying to gain information from me about allegations involving KE," the mother told the inquiry.
She said the principal hugged her daughter and said "see you back at school when you're ready".
"I was appalled by this. I thought it was highly inappropriate for (the principal) to hug KE after everything she had gone through. To me, it demonstrated a lack of insight," the mother said.
The inquiry was told that neither the principal, nor the Catholic Education Office, told police or government child protection officers about any complaints brought against the teacher by 13 girls at the school between 2007 and 2008.
The teacher was jailed for 10 years in 2010 after pleading guilty to 44 counts of abusing children under the age of 12, including 10 counts of rape.
The hearing is examining how the Catholic Education Office and the diocese that covered the school handled allegations of abuse against the teacher.
It will hear from 10 witnesses over the next five (five) days.
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| Toowoomba |
But today the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will turn its attention to how the primary school staff and Catholic Church officials dealt with the allegations when they emerged in 2007.
Monique Scattini represented the families of five victims who took legal action.
MONIQUE SCATTINI: Neither the principal of the school or the teacher reported the matter to police. The teacher wasn't suspended, he remained in the class for the last term, and then the whole new school year in 2008, where sadly went on to abuse more of the young girls.
And it could have been absolutely preventable if anyone in Catholic Education had done their job.
Janette Dines is the CEO of the Royal Commission.
JANETTE DINES: This is quite confronting I think for a lot of people who might have thought that abuse was in the past. What is also quite striking about this case is the fact that the abuse against these girls, who were all aged eight to 10 at the time, occurred predominantly in the classroom, in front of other children.
And I think the other striking thing is the fact that this isn't a case, where there weren't systems and procedures; there actually were systems and procedures in place and they had been accredited. But still there was something that prevented the strong application of those - and in this case, the abuse not just continued but escalated after the first complaints were made.
Hetty Johnston, the founder of Bravehearts, a long time advocate for victims, is optimistic about the public hearing.
HETTY JOHNSTON: They are getting to the crux of matters they are taking no prisoners. And the ramifications for this - they are not just going to affect Australia's children and organisations, the threads of this lead right around the globe. We can always hope and pray.
But she says the Royal Commission must expand its inquiry. The Family Law Courts have been left out of this entirely. It's as though the shutters have come down, and they've said well, you can look in the churches, and you can go anywhere else, but don't you come looking in here.
And Bravehearts are determined to go looking there, and we are going to go looking in there. We are going to do this investigation, we have some private funding to make that happen and we cannot let this opportunity go.
The inquiry heard that the Catholic principal encouraged a parent to let the school deal with child sex abuse complaints against a teacher rather than police, an inquiry has heard.
The father, known as KQ, says his daughter, known as KA, told him she had been touched on her breast by her teacher at a Queensland primary school in September 2007.
KQ has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he had immediately called the principal to report the allegations.
A few days later KQ and his daughter had a meeting at the school with the principal and a student protection officer.
KQ says they told him there were two ways to deal with his daughter's complaint - to treat it as an informal complaint and for the school to handle it internally, or make a formal complaint in writing and call in child protection officers and police.
KQ told the inquiry he was unsure how serious the complaint against the teacher was, and that the principal gave him the impression it would be easier to deal with informally.
"I expected the school would look after things," KQ told the inquiry, which is sitting in Brisbane.
"I did not know they had a duty to tell police. I still carry a lot of guilt about the matter."
The mother of another abuse victim told the inquiry she noticed injuries on her daughter indicating that she had been physically abused.
Police told the mother, known as KR, that her daughter, known as KE, may have been abused by her teacher, and two formal complaints were made to police.
A week later the principal turned up their house unannounced and asked if he could speak to the girl.
"I got the impression he was trying to gain information from me about allegations involving KE," the mother told the inquiry.
She said the principal hugged her daughter and said "see you back at school when you're ready".
"I was appalled by this. I thought it was highly inappropriate for (the principal) to hug KE after everything she had gone through. To me, it demonstrated a lack of insight," the mother said.
The inquiry was told that neither the principal, nor the Catholic Education Office, told police or government child protection officers about any complaints brought against the teacher by 13 girls at the school between 2007 and 2008.
The teacher was jailed for 10 years in 2010 after pleading guilty to 44 counts of abusing children under the age of 12, including 10 counts of rape.
The hearing is examining how the Catholic Education Office and the diocese that covered the school handled allegations of abuse against the teacher.
It will hear from 10 witnesses over the next five (five) days.
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