By Noel Towell, Hannah Hammoud and Caroline Schelle
The Victorian government has apologised to two victims of a paedophile school teacher, after the children’s families were left in the dark about a police investigation into the alleged abuse.
The case prompted the apology from state Education Minister Ben Carroll on Thursday, after the Victorian Ombudsman published a report detailing a “shocking” litany of failures by the Education Department towards the teacher’s two victims.
Ribbons attached to the fence of a Victorian primary school in support of victims of historical sexual abuse.Credit: Penny Stephens
In a scathing report into the department’s response, Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath urged officials to treat future complainants as “people, not litigants”.
The investigation’s report was tabled in state parliament on Thursday, with the school, the victims, the offender and the timeline of their offences all carefully de-identified.
But The Age has independently verified that the offences were committed at a regional primary school between 2014 and 2016. The offender, a former teacher now in his 50s, was jailed in 2020 for sexual offences against two girls.
The teacher first came under suspicion in 2016 when a colleague reported seeing him touch one of the victims inappropriately in the playground. The witness urged school authorities to get the offender “away from children, I know what I saw”.
The school conducted an interview with the child – without engaging an expert – where she did not disclose any abuse.
Police investigated and took no further action – but the parents were never informed.
Both the school and the education department determined there was “no substance” to the allegation and police agreed.
Three years later, the child involved disclosed that the teacher had abused her for several years.
The teacher was arrested and charged and then resigned. Following the arrest, a second child reported to the police that the teacher also abused her.
The first child who disclosed the abuse said moving on from what took place at the primary school had proven to be “harder than expected”.
“I didn’t think it would make me cry for weeks and hate myself for months and I didn’t think it would hurt this much … but it does … It has changed my opinion of myself a lot,” she said.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping and generally being happy. I spend most of my time in my room … I’ve been seeing someone to help me but honestly, I feel broken and used. I feel like I don’t deserve happiness or love … I can’t look in the mirror because I see a stranger.”
Baragwanath told The Age that what took place was a cascade of errors from the department, including a failure to quickly contact the victims’ families, apologise and adequately support the children and their loved ones.
“There are signs of progress [from the department], but I just can’t imagine, even with these reforms, that it’s ever going to make up for the gravity of what’s happened here,” she said.
“We’re talking about primary school kids. It’s a bit hard to believe.”
Baragwanath noted that the department’s lack of guidance and incorrect advice left the school with no clear procedures to follow.
She added that had an expert been involved in the first child’s initial interview, the chances of an earlier disclosure would have been significantly higher, potentially reducing the time children at the school were exposed to the teacher.
The department also failed to contact the families of the victims promptly, with the first girl’s parents finding out about the initial report and interview years later, during a court hearing.
A parent of the first child discloser said they received “no acknowledgement” from the department about the incident involving their child.
“The school would ring us about a scratch, a Band-Aid, a lump, a bump – and when there’s a possible allegation of sexual abuse, they never contacted us at all. Why not? It just does not make sense,” the parent said.
The second child’s family were found to have received no support from the department after their child disclosed the abuse. The girl had already moved schools and the department did not reach out to the family until four years later.
The ombudsman’s report also revealed that the department did not take adequate steps to identify other potential victims. While the school told families of the teacher’s arrest, neither the school nor the department contacted parents at the teacher’s previous schools to check if other students had been affected.
The first child’s family was not consulted before a letter was sent out to all school families about the teacher’s arrest. The letter, drafted by the department, failed to name the teacher or mention that the abuse had occurred at the school.
Carroll said the department had accepted all four of the ombudsman’s recommendations.
“We failed these children and their families. On behalf of the Victorian government, I am sorry,” he said.
“The safety of students is my number one priority – there is more work to do, but I am committed to continuing to improve the department’s response to reports of abuse and their support for victim-survivors and their families.”
Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said it defied belief neither the school nor the department told the student’s parents about the eyewitness report or investigation.
“The ombudsman’s report makes for deeply disturbing reading into how the Department of Education allowed the unthinkable to occur at a Victorian school,” she said.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.