Royal Commission into child sex abuse continues
UPDATE: Peter Hollingworth has apologised for the Anglican church’s failure to protect children from two pedophiles at a Brisbane school and the handling of complaints when he was archbishop.
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FORMER governor-general Peter Hollingworth has apologised for the Anglican church’s failure to protect children from two pedophiles at a Brisbane school and the handling of complaints when he was archbishop.
Dr Hollingworth read his lengthy prepared apology to the child abuse royal commission before being grilled about the promotion of the school principal who hired both of the pedophiles.
“I am appalled by the abuse you suffered at the hands of two school staff members from St Paul’s School,” Dr Hollingworth said.
“I am saddened about the way these matters were dealt with during my time as archbishop.
“I deeply regret that I did not press harder to have your complaints investigated more rigorously.”
If he had exercised stronger authority complaints would have been addressed more promptly and in a better manner.
“It’s clear to me now that we did not do enough to help you.”
He had examined his conscience over the matters over the last 12 years and was “extremely sorry that the church and I failed to protect you”.
The royal commission has spent two weeks examining the sexual abuse of students by school counsellor Kevin Lynch at Brisbane Grammar School and St Paul’s and by music teacher Gregory Robert Knight at St Paul’s from the 1970s to 1990s.
The apology from Dr Hollingworth - Brisbane archbishop from 1990 to 2001 - was dismissed as “empty” by St Paul’s victims last night.
“He opened with an apology, he closed with a prayer but in between he said nothing but he can’t recall,” said a former student sexually abused by Lynch.
Dr Hollingworth was forced to resign as governor-general in May 2003 after severe criticism of his handling of child sex abuse cases as archbishop.
The royal commission was yesterday told he was chair of a six-person panel which promoted former St Paul’s principal Gilbert Case to executive director in charge of all Anglican schools in the Brisbane diocese in 2001.
The promotion came after the sexual abuse of students at St Paul’s by Lynch had come to light in 2000 through investigative reporting by The Courier-Mail.
St Paul’s students had earlier been sexually abused by music teacher Knight, who was also hired by Mr Case.
Mr Case allowed Knight to resign, gave him a reference and on Thursday told the royal commission he didn’t know it was a crime for a teacher to fondle the genitals of a student as he attempted to explain why he didn’t call in police.
One of the roles of Mr Case’s new position was to develop, implement and improve policies to deal with child sexual abuse.
Counsel assisting David Lloyd said: “Don’t you accept ... that that discloses a massive failure in the recruitment process undertaken by the diocese?”
Dr Hollingworth replied: “Yes.”
Dr Hollingworth added that the panel’s decision was unanimous and at one point appeared to defend Mr Case’s lack of knowledge.
“Look all I can say is I doubt very much at the time whether any of us were terribly clear precisely about Queensland law in relation to sexual abuse.”
Mr Lloyd compared the Anglican response to the actions of Darwin’s Dripstone High School which immediately dismissed Knight and called in the police upon discovering his rape and sexual abuse of students there.
“Dripstone High School made the right decision,” Dr Hollingworth said
Mr Lloyd replied that in contrast, the Anglican response was “appalling”.
“It just really wasn’t good enough, it’s unacceptable and I think we all know that,” Dr Hollingworth said.
“We have come a long, long way and it’s been a painful journey and not least of all for me.”
Dr Hollingworth said that prior to Mr Case’s promotion he had a “one-on-one and face-to-face” meeting with him.
One of his intentions during the meeting was to satisfy himself that in relation to the sexual abuse by school counsellor Kevin Lynch that Mr Case “conducted the school’s response to the abuse properly, compassionately and in accordance with general procedures”.
“There was nothing in the response suggested otherwise,” Dr Hollingworth said.
Dr Hollingworth said he could not remember if the panel that hired Mr Case asked him whether he knew of the allegations about Lynch while he was alive.
It “wasn’t for me” to ask, he said. He would have expected the others on the panel to raise it with Mr Case if they had any concerns.
Mr Lloyd pointed to a note by Anglican general manager Bernard Yorke from October 1998 about an interview with a former student, BSB.
“The main concern I see from the whole of the interview was that (BSB) feels that the headmaster did not handle the matter very well and wants the Church to investigate the procedures,” the note says.
“I encouraged him to keep the details of his complaint to himself and his immediate family and get on with his life.”
Dr Hollingworth said: “I never saw that letter.”
Asked about Mr Yorke’s suggestion that the student get on with his life, Dr Hollingworth said it was “not what I would have said and it’s not an appropriate way to make” to make a person feel comforted.
“If I had seen the text I would have asked him to remove it. It’s inhumane and insensitive response.”
Dr Hollingworth was questioned about a statement to the media in June 2000 that a worrying aspect of Lynch’s abuse was that abused children had not complained to authority, and that the school knew nothing of Lynch’s conduct prior to his death.
He agreed the statement would be misleading if students had come forward and if the school did know at the time.
EARLIER: Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth has admitted his promotion of a school principal who hired two pedophiles was a “massive failure” of the church’s recruitment processes.
Dr Hollingworth was chair of a six-person panel which promoted former St Paul’s principal Gilbert Case to executive director in charge of all Anglican schools in the Brisbane diocese in 2001.
The promotion came after the sexual abuse of students at St Paul’s by school counsellor Kevin Lynch had come to light.
St Paul’s students had earlier been sexually abused by music teacher Gregory Robert Knight, who was also hired by Mr Case.
Mr Case allowed Knight to resign, gave him a reference and on Thursday told the royal commission he didn’t know it was a crime for a teacher to fondle the genitals of a student as he attempted to explain why he didn’t call in police.
Counsel assisting David Lloyd said: “Don’t you accept ... that that discloses a massive failure in the recruitment process undertaken by the diocese?”
Dr Hollingworth replied: “Yes.”
Dr Hollingworth added that the panel’s decision was unanimous and at one point appeared to defend Mr Case’s lack of knowledge.
“Look all I can say is I doubt very much at the time whether any of us were terribly clear precisely about Queensland law in relation to sexual abuse.”
Mr Lloyd compared the Anglican response to the actions of Darwin’s Dripstone High School which immediately dismissed Knight and called in the police upon discovering his rape and sexual abuse of students there.
“Dripstone High School made the right decision,” Dr Hollingworth said
Mr Lloyd replied that in contrast, the Anglican response was “appalling”.
“It just really wasn’t good enough, it’s unacceptable and I think we all know that,” Dr Hollingworth said.
“We have come a long, long way and it’s been a painful journey and not least of all for me.”
Dr Hollingworth said that prior to Mr Case’s promotion he had a “one-on-one and face-to-face” meeting with him.
One of his intentions during the meeting was to satisfy himself that in relation to the sexual abuse by school counsellor Kevin Lynch that Mr Case “conducted the school’s response to the abuse properly, compassionately and in accordance with general procedures”.
“There was nothing in the response suggested otherwise,” Dr Hollingworth said.
Dr Hollingworth said he could not remember if the panel that hired Mr Case asked him whether he knew of the allegations about Lynch while he was alive.
It “wasn’t for me” to ask, he said. He would have expected the others on the panel to raise it with Mr Case if they had any concerns.
Mr Lloyd pointed to a note by Anglican general manager Bernard Yorke from October 1998 about an interview with a former student, BSB.
“The main concern I see from the whole of the interview was that (BSB) feels that the headmaster did not handle the matter very well and wants the Church to investigate the procedures,” the note says.
“I encouraged him to keep the details of his complaint to himself and his immediate family and get on with his life.”
Dr Hollingworth said: “I never saw that letter.”
Asked about Mr Yorke’s suggestion that the student get on with his life, Dr Hollingworth said it was “not what I would have said and it’s not an appropriate way to make” a person feel comforted.
“If I had seen the text I would have asked him to remove it. It’s inhumane and insensitive response.”
Dr Hollingworth was questioned about a statement to the media in June 2000 that a worrying aspect of Lynch’s abuse was that abused children had not complained to authority, and that the school knew nothing of Lynch’s conduct prior to his death.
He agreed the statement would be misleading if students had come forward and if the school did know at the time.
HOLLINGWORTH ISSUES APOLOGY
FORMER governor-general Peter Hollingworth has apologised to the survivors of sexual abuse at the opening of his evidence at the child abuse royal commission.
In a prepared statement read out before he was cross-examined, Dr Hollingworth said he made the apology as an individual and also as a former archbishop of Brisbane.
“My apology is offered to the children, now adults, and the families of those who have been abused,” Dr Hollinworth said.
“It’s offered to all of you who have suffered great pain and become disillusioned that your complaints were not dealt with from the outset as they should have been.
“I am appalled by the abuse you suffered at the hands of two school staff members from St Paul’s School.
“I am saddened about the way these matters were dealt with during my time as archbishop.
“I deeply regret that I did not press harder to have your complaints investigated more rigorously.”
If he had exercised stronger authority complaints would have been addressed more promptly and in a better manner.
“It’s clear to me now that we did not do enough to help you.”
He had examined his conscience over the matters over the last 12 years, he said. He ended the statement by saying he was “extremely sorry that the church and I failed to protect you”.
A victim of childhood sexual abuse had earlier told the hearings he was outraged that lawyers acting for Dr Hollingworth suggested he “remove every reference” to his name from his statement to the royal commission.
Former St Paul’s student BSG said a lawyer acting for Dr Hollingworth approached his legal team on the first day of Brisbane sittings.
“She suggested that I make some changes to my statement that amounted to having every reference to the name Hollingworth from my statement,” he said.
BSG said Dr Hollingworth was not his abuser but a key character as the Archbishop of Brisbane in 2000 who promoted St Paul’s principal Gilbert Case to executive director of Anglican Schools, even though he was in charge when allegations of abuse by Kevin Lynch had surfaced at the school.
“Hollingworth knew there was accusations of abuse at St Paul’s at the time Case was headmaster,” BSG said.
“Hollingworth clearly belongs in my story because of the statements that he makes, not about me directly, but how he believes childhood abuse should be viewed as in the church hierarchy.
“Through his words and actions he really shows there is a distain and lack of compassion towards people like me and people who have been abused in institutions.”
Dr Hollingworth’s barrister Caroline Kirton, QC, denied her client was critical of victims of abuse and said BSG was mistaken in his evidence.
The commission was also told on Thursday that teachers at St Paul’s were told Dr Hollingworth had “washed his hands” of stories that counsellor Kevin Lynch had sexually abused students at the school.
Former St Paul’s teacher Craig Patterson told the Commission that one or two years after Lynch’s death in 1997 the school’s principal Gilbert Case called staff to a meeting where he presented a sexual harassment policy.
Mr Patterson said the diocese handling of the Lynch case was also discussed.
“(He said) I’ve spoken to the diocese and Archbishop Hollingworth has washed his hands of the matter and that it was going to be dealt with internally,” Mr Patterson told the Commission.
“We were aware that there was rumblings about Archbishop Hollingworth being selected to be Governor-General of Australia, so the way that the diocese and Archbishop Hollingworth were dealing with these matters were in the air. It wasn’t coming out of nowhere.”
He said he resigned from the school on October in 1999 in a letter to Mr Case expressing concern over the way the Lynch case was handled.
“I came to believe, without any evidence, that they had been an awareness of what was going on,” he said.
Mr Case’s barrister Jeff Hunter QC put to Mr Patterson that his client had not made the statement regarding Dr Hollingworth. Mr Patterson said that he did.
Barrister representing Mr Hollingworth, Caroline Kirton, QC, said a statement by St Paul’s School board chairman Andrew Knox conflicted with Mr Patterson’s account.
Mr Knox’s statement was that the diocese assumed control of the Lynch complaint, counselling and mediation “almost immediately” after the counsellor’s death.
Dr Hollingworth, 80, resigned as governor-general in May 2003 after severe criticism of his handling of child sex abuse cases as Archbishop of Brisbane and his attitudes to victims.
He was less than two years into his five-year appointment at the time and sacrificed a $310,000-a-year salary but kept a pension.
He said at the time he was resigning to protect the role from “misplaced and unwarranted allegations” against him.
“It is clear that continuing public controversy has the potential to undermine and diminish my capacity to uphold the importance, dignity and integrity of this high office,” he said.
Dr Hollingworth was appointed Archbishop of Brisbane in 1989, and almost immediately had to deal with church child sex abuse cases.
He was Australian of the Year in 1992 for his work with the poor, homeless and the young unemployed.
Chosen by former prime minister John Howard to be Australia’s 23rd governor-general in 2001, within months he faced accusations that as archbishop of Brisbane he failed to properly handle sex abuse cases involving Toowoomba Prep School teacher Kevin Guy.
Dr Hollingworth then set off a storm of controversy with a disastrous interview on the ABC’s Australian Story in which he discussed a priest’s relationship with a 14-year-old girl.
“My belief is that this was not sex abuse. There was no suggestion of rape or anything like that. Quite the contrary. My information is that it was rather the other way around,” he told the program.
One of the final blows came with the tabling in Queensland’s parliament of an independent Anglican Church report into child sexual abuse.
The report found that as Archbishop of Brisbane Dr Hollingworth allowed a priest he knew to be a pedophile, John Elliott, to remain in the ministry.
A woman had also launched civil action in Victoria accusing him of raping her at a church camp in Bendigo 40 years earlier, although the claim was withdrawn.
He was further undermined when it was revealed he wrote a letter to Brisbane archbishop Phillip Aspinall stating a 14-year-old girl “started a relationship” with an older man.
Labor, the Democrats, Greens and church figures called for his resignation and polls showed he had lost the support of the Australian public.
He was the third governor-general since federation to have resigned. The earlier resignations were Lord Hopetoun in1903 over a funding dispute and Sir John Kerr in 1977, two years after he sacked the Whitlam government.
EARLIER: FORMER St Paul’s principal Gilbert Case says he knew counsellor Kevin Lynch was seeing past students at his home — but his main concern was for Lynch’s safety.
In his final evidence to royal commission hearings in Brisbane, Mr Case said his control over Lynch did not extend to past students.
“We did not see it as a problem that Mr Lynch saw past students at his home,” Mr Case said.
“We knew that it was of some concern to Mr Lynch’s safety because of some experiences he’d described with past Grammar students who’d also visited his home.
The Royal Commission was told former St Paul’s student “BSE” wore a wire in a visit to Lynch’s home and recorded Lynch making full admissions of sexual abuse in counselling sessions.
Mr Case said Lynch told him a former student was going to visit his home and that the counsellor was “a bit worried about this one” because he did not know what the student wanted.
Mr Case did not know that the former student was BSE but arranged to phone Lynch at a set time during the meeting to check on his welfare.
When Lynch was arrested Mr Case at first mistakenly believed the counsellor had simply been talking to police about a recent car accident.
When he did find out that Lynch was to be charged police “stressed to me that this was not an allegation of the worst kind”.
He had believed a traffic light system set up outside Lynch’s office was to help the counsellor because of his difficulties in walking. Lynch had a pronounced limp from childhood polio.
Mr Case had also personally helped Lynch select a chair for the office and denied that it reclined back into a bed.
In relation to pedophile music teacher Gregory Robert Knight, Mr Case said in hindsight he wished he had notified the teacher registration board of child sex abuse allegations against the music teacher.
The commission had been told Mr Case allowed Knight to resign and gave him a glowing reference. Knight used the reference to gain a job at a Darwin school where he raped and abused a group of young boys.
Mr Case agreed he should have been hyper alert to the dangers of child sex abuse after Knight was forced out of the school in 1984.
However Lynch went on to sexually abuse boys at the school for years.
Under questioning from Dr Hollingworth’s barrister Caroline Kirton QC, Mr Case said his main communications after Lynch’s death were with diocese general manager Bernard Yorke.
However Mr Case also said: “My memory was at least some of these documents would have been sent to Dr Hollingworth.”
Ms Kirton said: “Whichever archbishop it was at the time, as the head of the diocese, was relying upon you, as the headmaster of the school, to pass all information within your knowledge to the diocese accurately.”
Mr Case agreed.
The commission was told a letter to past St Paul’s students on 14 June 2000 said the school received no information or complaint of any improper behaviour by Lynch until the time of his death.
A press release was also issued by the then-archbishop on 16 June 2000, which said the school knew nothing of Lynch’s conduct prior to his death.
Mr Case said he could not remember being involved in the press release or discussing the wording with Dr Hollingworth before it was released.
Ms Kirton also asked Mr Case if he had a formal meeting with Dr Hollingworth around April or May 2000.
Dr Hollingworth would say that at this meeting he confirmed the position of the Brisbane diocese schools officer was to be advertised.
The two men had a general discussion about Mr Case’s career plans and it was discussed whether it was appropriate for him to apply for the position, Ms Kirton said.
“The purpose of this meeting was to assess your interest in applying for the position and it was also to evaluate your conduct at St Paul’s in relation to the sex abuse revelations,” Ms Kirton said.
Dr Hollingworth would say nothing in Mr Case’s response indicated he had not responded appropriately to the sex abuse revelations at St Paul’s, she said.
Mr Case said: “I don’t recall that meeting at all.”
Ms Kirton suggested Mr Case had “over enthusiastically” described Dr Hollingworth’s support.
“I believe the use of the word encouraged is fair. I’m not going to split hairs,” Mr Case said.
Subsequently Dr Hollingworth was chair of a selection panel that chose to promote Mr Case.
Dr Hollingworth would say there was a shortlist of three candidates and the panel was unanimous in Mr Case’s appointment.
Ms Kirton said if evidence before the commission was believed, Mr Case had misled Dr Hollingworth and the diocese about his knowledge of Lynch’s abuse of students before the counsellor’s death.
Dr Hollingworth will be called to give evidence at 2pm.
EARLIER: Principal during abuse was ‘backed for top job’
FORMER governor-general Peter Hollingworth encouraged a principal who hired two pedophiles to apply for a position in charge of all Anglican schools in the Brisbane diocese, a Royal Commission has heard.
Former St Paul’s principal Gilbert Case says Dr Hollingworth was archbishop of Brisbane at the time and encouraged him to become executive director of the Anglican schools office in Brisbane.
In a group conversation “well before” Mr Case applied for and was granted the position, the question had come up about who would replace the existing executive director, he said.
Dr Hollingworth said at the time “well, Gilbert’s here”, Mr Case told the child abuse Royal Commission in Brisbane.
Mr Case applied for the senior executive role in April 2000 and started in the position the following year.
His promotion was despite the fact he hired pedophile music teacher Gregory Robert Knight and pedophile school counsellor Kevin Lynch to work at St Paul’s in Bald Hills.
Both Lynch and Knight separately sexually abused boys at St Paul’s while Mr Case was principal.
The Lynch scandal became public through investigative reporting by The Courier-Mail in May 2000 — before Mr Case was promoted.
Documents tendered to the Royal Commission show a public relations firm advised it would be good timing for Mr Case to depart St Paul’s at a time when the media would be preoccupied by the introduction of the GST.
One of the roles of the executive position was to develop, implement and improve policies to deal with child sexual abuse, the commission was told.
Asked if during the interview for the position he was questioned about this knowledge of Lynch’s activities, Mr Case said he could not remember.
He was also asked if he was questioned about his understanding of whether a teacher fondling students was a criminal offence. Mr Case said he could not remember the conversation veering in that direction.
Further questioned today, Mr Case said he could not remember any discussion during the interview process about his understanding of, or experience in, dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse.
Mr Case denied that he was told of Lynch’s abuse before his death and also denied his strong personal friendship with the counsellor affected his response.
“I would accept that there were a whole lot of incidents which can now be recognised as warning signs but which were not recognised as warning signs at the time,” he said.
“He was a person who had deliberately engineered friendship and trust in order to create betrayal.”
EARLIER: Principal ‘not alarmed by counsellor’s penis talk’
A FORMER school principal says he was not alarmed when students told him counsellor Kevin Lynch was spreading personal information about their penis sizes.
The child abuse Royal Commission today heard evidence students went to St Paul’s headmaster Gilbert Case about the spreading of the highly personal information in 1995 — more than a year before the counsellor was charged with the abuse of a former student and took his own life.
Counsel assisting David Lloyd suggested to Mr Case he must have found it alarming Mr Lynch was discussing penis sizes with boys and spreading that information.
“Obviously I didn’t consider it was very alarming,” Mr Case said.
Mr Case said he viewed the report from students as being “a slip up or silliness rather than a major or continuing problem”.
He claimed he went and spoke to Mr Lynch at the time and told him words to the effect that if the report was true he was being “silly”.
“I didn’t think it was all right and I told him so,” he said.
However Mr Lloyd said it was the first time in all of Mr Case’s statements about Lynch that he had claimed to have raised the matter with Lynch
The final day of the Brisbane hearings also heard that in the months after Lynch’s suicide three boys had told Mr Case of sexual abuse by Lynch.
At least one of the boys told Mr Case he had raised the abuse with Mr Case before Lynch’s death.
“You must have known that this allegation that was being made of knowledge on your part and no action taken was a very serious thing,” Mr Lloyd said.
“I probably did not realise at that stage what seriousness it might convey,” Mr Case said.
Mr Case maintains he was never warned Lynch was abusing students until police charged the counsellor in January 1997.
Asked what steps he took to investigate how widespread Lynch’s abuse was, Mr Case said the counsellor’s diaries were analysed.
Mr Case said he could not remember if current or former staff were interviewed at the time about what they might have known.
Before 1996 staff at the school merely conducted self appraisals through the submission of reports to the principal, he said.
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