I was incompetent on abuse: principal

Australian Teacher Magazine
February 19, 2014

http://www.ozteacher.com.au/news/qld/i-was-incompetent-on-abuse-principal/26457

BRISBANE, Feb 19 – A former principal admits he was grossly incompetent for failing to report a pedophile teacher he knew posed a risk to students.

Teacher Gerard Byrnes was arrested in November 2008 and charged for molesting and raping 13 schoolgirls, all during class time.

Principal Terence Hayes first heard a schoolgirl’s abuse complaint about Byrnes, including that he had “put his hand up their skirts”, in 2007.

But Hayes did not tell his superiors the full extent of the complaint, and he never reported it to police, he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Wednesday.

The principal says he had omitted the most serious parts of the allegation in three reports, but insists it was not deliberate.

But counsel assisting, Andrew Naylor, asked whether “it was grossly incompetent not to provide that information”.

“I accept that,” Hayes replied.

Byrnes was not stood down as a student protection officer at the school until he resigned as a teacher in June 2008.

He was then rehired as a relief teacher one month later.

On Wednesday Hayes was asked if he had made his opinion about Byrnes known to superiors before he was rehired.

“I’m a very system-orientated person and it’s not for me to make a judgment on that information,” Hayes told the hearing.

Naylor then asked if he was comfortable about the Catholic Education Office making a decision to let Byrnes come back to his school and teach children.

“If the system had said yes, I’m comfortable,” Hayes replied.

The principal also told the inquiry he believed that Byrnes posed a risk to students, but admitted that he took no further steps apart from asking another student protection officer keep an eye on him.

The hearing continues.