Victim of paedophile 1980s primary school teacher speaks out after years of repressing memories

The paedophile primary school teacher would arrange his classroom so no one knew he was rubbing himself on the girls’ desks. One of his victims has finally broken her silence.

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MR ROBERTSON* had it all worked out, lining all the pretty little girls up in a row.

The paedophile and 1980s primary school teacher would arrange his classrooms so anyone passing by would have no idea that he was in fact grotesquely rubbing himself on the girls’ desks.

But Mr Robertson, who allegedly forced those girls to kiss him and even raped some of them on school camp, has still never been brought to justice, according to one of his victims.

Now, that victim has finally come forward after she said her complaints fell on deaf ears.

But she said the most “disgusting” part of the whole story was that the man was still now working with children.

“He had a desk at the front of the classroom and a desk at the back. He had all the pretty little girls lined up so we were all in his vision,” she said.

“He could have his back to the boys and rub himself on our desks without them seeing. He could see out the window while he was doing what he was doing to us girls, so anyone walking past and peering in, they wouldn’t have seen what he was doing.”

The woman said the Grade 5 classroom teacher was only 22 years old when he started abusing his “favourite” students, but she blocked out what he’d done for years until the memories came flooding back decades later.

She said another woman had been raped by the teacher as a child while they were on school camp.

“I read her statement and threw up,” she said.

“He came into the cabin and forced all the girls to kiss him goodnight and (the other woman) said ‘no go away’ and she resisted him. And then he snuck back in, in the night, and raped her.”

A woman has come forward to tell her story of sexual abuse at the hands of a Tasmanian teacher in the 1980s. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

The woman claimed yet another child, a nine-year-old, was also raped by the same teacher.

But the woman said while police were initially helpful, an officer called her back and said the investigations had been dropped.

“I want him taken down,” she said.

“He needs to be stopped.”

Lawyer Sebastian Buscemi said it didn’t make sense why the case had been dropped and why police hadn’t retrieved historical medical evidence.

He said the woman would now need to wait until the state government was ready to sit down and negotiate a civil claim – and until then, their hands were tied.

A Tasmania Police spokesperson said the organisation was unable to comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.

“But all reports referred to police are followed up and investigated,” they said.

“If a person was charged with an offence we would usually be able to release the age and sex of the person charged and the offence they’ve been charged with. However, as no-one has been charged, we are unable to provide any further comment.”

* Name changed

“I want him taken down.” Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Lawyer Sebastian Buscemi. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

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