School hit in abuse

THE Hutchins School’s response to sexual abuse lacked compassion and was aimed at avoiding damaging publicity, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has found.

It found that former headmaster David Lawrence groomed two students between 1963 and 1970.

Three other students were abused by teachers Lyndon Hickman, Kenneth Dexter and Ronald Thomas between 1963 and 1973. It took the school 21 years to apologise to a former student who first wrote to the school in 1993.

“The board’s failure over the years to acknowledge to AOA that he had been sexually abused by Mr Lawrence and to apologise for that abuse materially contributed to his distress and suffering,” the report said.

“The board was motivated by a concern to avoid damaging publicity that could result from an apology being given rather than a concern for the truth about what occurred and compassion.”

The commission also reported abuse in a government school, including a case in which a five-year-old girl was sexually abused when locked in a toilet cubicle by three boys in the mid-2010s.

An 11-year old boy told the commission in a private session he and his mother were groomed by a headmaster of a Tasmanian government school in the 1980s.

The commission examined child sexual abuse perpetrated by former Anglican Reverend Louis Daniels and other Church of England Boys Society cases.

It found former Bishop of Tasmania Phillip Newell had been told in 1987 about sexual abuse of three boys from the Church of England Boys Society by Daniels.

He did not think the matter should be reported to police and told a CEBS leader: “You are to speak to no one about this”.

Bishop Newell appointed Daniels as the Archdeacon of Burnie in 1989. Daniels was sentenced to 7½ years jail in 2005.

The commission found Daniels and a paedophile priest Garth Hawkins “from time to time observed each others sexual advances to boys”.

It found that Bishop Newell’s response was “inappropriate and failed to take account of the survivors and their families’ needs and of the need to protect children in the Anglican Church”.

The Anglican Church has paid $2.23 million to 34 complainants.

There was also evidence of a sexual abuse by the caretaker of a Catholic boys home in the 1980s.

The Anglican Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie said the Anglican Church in Tasmania had responded to the recommendations of the commission as they had been delivered.

“We look forward to examining the full recommendations of the Royal Commission and working for justice for survivors and building a safer society,” he said.

Catholic Archbishop of Hobart Julian Porteous said the Church had rightfully faced criticism over its handling of cases of sexual abuse.

“We humbly accept that we failed to adequately respond to claims of abuse, which has caused unnecessary suffering to the lives of victims of sexual abuse and their families,” Archbishop Porteous said.

“I once again offer my sincere and unconditional apology on behalf of the Catholic Church, particularly in Tasmania.”

“It is my fervent hope that the church, humbled by this experience, can emerge a better servant of the Gospel and a source of good for all people it serves.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that over five years the Royal Commission had held more than 8000 pri-