Leaked email shows elite school delayed reporting alleged sexual abuse

A Brisbane Christian school that made headlines over an alleged sexual abuse at school camp is under fire over its handling of the allegations following an email exchange with the student’s parents.

Rothwell’s Mueller College has been accused of failing to report an alleged sexual abuse incident to police.

A Brisbane Christian school failed to report an alleged sexual abuse incident to police until months after it happened, a leaked email has revealed.

A Mueller College student claimed he was allegedly “pinned down” by three boys and sexually abused with a broomstick on a school camp.

The incident has since prompted ex-college parents to come forward to expose cultural issues at the Rothwell-based school.

Months after the alleged incident, the mother of the victim emailed the school asking if they had made a report to police. Days later on Tuesday, October 25, the school emailed the boy’s parents to inform them a report had been made to police.

“(We) have subsequently made a report to the Queensland Police Service. This report was given at 1pm yesterday,” the email read.

The school has repeatedly been asked when they first reported the alleged incident to police, however they have declined.

Mueller College at Rothwell.

The school told The Courier-Mail on Monday that the college complied with its reporting obligations and any report made to police was confidential.

The Queensland Police Service said it was investigating the incident but would not confirm the date the matter was first reported.

Under the child protection act, professionals including teachers are required to report an incident if a child has suffered physical or sexual abuse.

The boy’s mother said they had assumed the school had followed its due diligence to report the alleged incident. The family has since contacted police to make a formal statement.

The school did not respond when asked why the matter was not reported to police months earlier when the incident allegedly took place.

Since the sexual abuse allegation came to light, parents of former students have spoken out about cultural issues which led them to removing their children from Mueller.

One parent, who wished to remain anonymous to protect her child, accused the school of failing to appropriately report an alleged assault against her eight-year-old daughter.

She said her daughter and her friends were repeatedly bullied by a group of Year 6 boys including one instance where her daughter was slapped in the face.

The mother said her daughter’s cheek was still flushed red when she picked her up that afternoon, hours after the lunchtime assault.

She said the school failed to investigate the incident accordingly.

This was denied by the school, which insisted it had been thoroughly investigated, which included a review of CCTV footage which reportedly failed to provide evidence to the allegations.

“In fact, the student who made the allegation subsequently volunteered to a staff member that the incident did not occur,” the school said.

“The parents concerned emailed the college in support of how we responded and did not further correspond with us regarding the incident.”

The parent told The Courier-Mail the school had dismissed her issues at the time which drove her to pull her children from the school.

She said her daughter’s grades had suffered badly at Mueller, but were now exceeding expectations at her new school.

A spokesperson for the school rejected suggestions there was a problem with bullying at Mueller.

“To the contrary, we believe that Mueller College is a community which has a strong sense of belonging and positive culture,” he said.

The school said it promoted safety and wellbeing through several proactive strategies.