King’s School principal admits failure on abuse

A Sydney principal has admitted it was a ‘catastrophic failure’ not to immediately report the sexual abuse of a pupil.

The headmaster of a prestigious independent school in Sydney’s west has admitted it was a “catastrophic failure” by him and the school leadership team not to immediately report the sexual abuse of a pupil to police.

Timothy Hawkes, the headmaster of The King’s School in Parramatta, told the Royal Commission into Institutional ­Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that cases of severe bullying and abuse at his school were “horrendous, heart-wrenching tales” that should have been brought to the attention of authorities.

One former student, known as CLC, told the commission earlier this week that one boy had ejaculated on him while he slept at a school camp in August 2013. The incident led other students to repeatedly call him “cum rag”. In what commission head Peter McClellan described as a case of “21st-century” bullying, two students at one point changed the name of the school-wide WiFi system to “CLC’s a cum rag”.

The royal commission heard deputy headmaster Andrew Parry initially reached out over email to police about the incident, but did not read the reply. Despite replying to Senior Constable Rob Paterson to say his advice was “helpful” — and ­including Mr Hawkes and two other senior academic staff in his reply — no one saw Constable Paterson’s recommendation to immediately lodge a report to police.

“Do you accept that on ­August 22, 2013, an email containing written advice from the police that the ... camp incident had to be reported was available to four people in the leadership of the school and that none of them took any action to report it is an extraordinary state of ­affairs?” counsel assisting David Lloyd asked Dr Hawkes.

“I fully accept that,” he ­replied.

“It is a catastrophic failure by the school, isn’t it?” Mr Lloyd put to the witness.

“That would be a fair comment,” Dr Hawkes said.

Earlier yesterday, a former student who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of other ­pupils said Dr Hawkes had told him the school didn’t “have enough money” to help him, and his story, if made public, would have a “negative impact on the school”.

John Williams started as a boarder at King’s in 1965 and recalled having his testicles blackened with raven oil while he was tied to a tree. He said he was regularly sexually abused by a Year 12 student while he was in Year 7. Mr Williams told the royal commission he went to Dr Hawkes in 2002 and told him about his experiences.

“He was very concerned about the school’s image and said that if my story went public it would have a negative impact,” Mr Williams said. “He also talked about the school not having enough money to help me.”

A third former pupil, who said he “didn’t fit into The King’s mould (because) I was fat (and) had big ears”, also detailed his extensive abuse. He said he was raped in the 1970s.