High school ‘cult’: Court hears counseller used alcohol to facilitate sexual abuse of students

A former Rosetta High student says the school’s then-guidance counsellor exploited his teenage inexperience with alcohol to perpetrate a series of sexual assaults in the mid-1980s.

Keith Athol Bates-Willie, 68, (left) has faced court charged with a number of historic child sexual abuse charges. Picture: Amber Wilson

A former Rosetta High student has told a Supreme Court jury of the permissive and “cult-like” atmosphere created by the school’s guidance counsellor, who then exploited the complainant’s inexperience with alcohol to perpetrate a series of sexual assaults against him in the mid-1980s.

The ex-pupil was giving evidence on Monday in the trial Keith Athol Bates-Willie, 71, who has pleaded not guilty to 14 charges – including rape, indecent assault, and the persistent sexual abuse of a child – allegedly committed against nine different males from the late 1970s to the mid-2000s.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court that he was part of a group of students who spent their recess and lunch breaks in Mr Bates’s office, where the counsellor and occasional teacher would engage in innuendo-laden conversations often relating to sexual acts between men.

The witness said that after being encouraged by Mr Bates to become involved in the local theatre scene, he would regularly be invited to post-rehearsal dinner parties at the accused’s home, where “copious” amounts of alcohol were involved.

“I was never in control of filling my glass up — it was always Keith or someone else,” the witness said.

“He would force you to sleep in his bed.

“And he would say ‘If you are coming into my bed you have to be naked’.

“You were quite drunk, so it broke down your defences.

“He would grope you, molest you, and get to the stage where he would get on top of you.

“I was about 16 when that sort of stuff started.

“It wasn’t consensual. It was certainly forced upon you.”

The man recounted another incident following a school athletics carnival, when Mr Bates informed him of an unscheduled rehearsal session for a theatre production, and offered him a lift back to his apartment.

When the student arrived at the teacher’s home, he realised there was no rehearsal, and that the dinner party Mr Bates had arranged involved just the two of them.

Requesting a post-athletics shower, the witness said Mr Bates entered the bathroom less than five minutes later, and began molesting him around the shower curtain, with the abuse continuing in the bedroom soon afterwards.

“It was probably one of the most traumatic experiences I’ve ever had,” he said.

Another former Rosetta High student told the court he was initially drawn to Mr Bates’s office as an escape from the bullying he was experiencing in the school yard.

The man said it was not uncommon to see the teacher massaging shoulders of male students, or for the favour to be returned.

The witness recalled an incident during a sleepover at the teacher’s home, when the defendant suggested the student get off his “uncomfortable” mattress on the floor and join him in bed.

The complainant said that, affected by alcohol, and uneasy about the situation, he positioned himself in the bed as far from Mr Bates as possible.

“At that stage he reached over and said “I’m not going to bite you”,” the man said.

“He ran his hand down my back, flicked my underwear, then stroked my scrotum.

“I remember feeling very, very uncomfortable, and spinning and swirling, then I passed out.”

The trial, before Justice Stephen Estcourt, continues.

Originally published as High school ‘cult’: Court hears counseller used alcohol to facilitate sexual abuse of students