Principal of Catherine McAuley College Brian Turner has called reporting of claims ‘unfortunate’

The principal of a Bendigo Catholic school accused of failing to report allegations of the sexual abuse of a student has called the situation “unfortunate” and “embarrassing”.

Brian Turner, principal of Catherine McAuley College in Bendigo. Picture: Supplied

The principal of a Bendigo Catholic school accused of failing to report allegations of the sexual abuse of a student has called the situation “embarrassing”.

Brian Turner, principal of Catherine McAuley College, has said the Herald Sun’s reporting of the claims, which relate to a school camp back in 2017, was “a very unfortunate situation”.

The article stated that multiple attempts were made to get the school to report to authorities an incident that allegedly involved a student putting his genitals in another student’s mouth – a practice known as “t-bagging”.

These included the student reporting it to teachers at the time and their parents making formal complaints to the school leaders and Mercy Education, which runs the school.

The student’s grandfather also wrote to the Bishop of Sandhurst describing the incident but no further action was taken other than an internal investigation.

Mr Turner wrote to staff on Sunday – the day the article appeared – and said the college “has investigated this allegation multiple times over the years and has not reported the matter as the facts and nature of the allegations cannot be corroborated by anyone on staff who is identified within the allegation”.

“It is a very unfortunate situation and obviously embarrassing for the College and me,” he wrote.

He said the college and Mercy Education are “seeking legal advice” on the story.

Catherine McAuley College is a Catholic school in Bendigo.

A letter was written to a Bishop about the incident.

The head of Mercy Education, Christopher Houlihan, also wrote to parents and staff saying that the organisation, which runs 13 schools in Victoria, takes all allegations of abuse “very seriously” and reports them to the relevant authorities.

“However, in this case, there was no allegation of sexual abuse made at the time of the alleged incident in 2016 by the family who raised these claims. A 2020 allegation made by the family that the 2016 camp involved sexual misconduct by another student was not substantiated,” he said.

“The health and wellbeing of our students is of paramount concern to Mercy Education Limited and we stand ready to co-operate with any investigation by Victoria Police”.

Although the student also went on a school camp in 2016, the incident in question took place on another school camp in 2017, his father alleges.

Under the PROTECT child safety policy covering all Victorian schools, police must be notified of any abuse allegations involving children against children, along with the Department of Health Child Protection and the Diocesan Office in the case of Catholic Schools.

The 2016 policy states that it is not the role of the school to investigate. “This is the role of DHHS Child Protection or Victoria Police”.

It comes as one current parent said the alleged abuse reflected a “bullying culture” in the school more generally.

The Herald Sun has been alerted to a range of social media pages set up by Catherine McAuley students containing alarming instances of cyber bullying.

One Instagram account, which parents have been trying to get closed down, has posts naming individual students for getting their “cousin pregnant”, being “secretly gay”, being pregnant, coming to school drunk, going “home early cause he sh1t himself”, having a “furry costume in his bag” and eating a cow’s foreskin.

A post from a student at Catherine McAuley College. Picture: Supplied

The school says it ‘constantly endeavours to remove these sites’. Picture: Supplied

The parent reported the site to the eSafety Commissioner, but they were unable to act as they only have authority to act if the complainant is a direct victim of the bullying or their parent or guardian.

In 2020, the school was in the spotlight after a Snapchat video emerged of its students – along with those from other Bendigo schools – chanting in a derogatory way about women. They talked about women being “buns on a shelf”. At the time Mr Turner said the chanting did not reflect the values of the school.

Mr Turner said the school “constantly endeavours to remove these sites” but has no ability to control Instagram accounts that are created by third parties. He said the school “has clear Mercy Education Limited Staff, Student and Parent Codes of Conduct, and associated policies and procedures, all in accord with VRQA standards”.