Hobart Boys School Former Principal Denies Covering up Report of Abuse, The Guardian, November 21, 2014

Hobart Boys" School Former Principal Denies Covering up Report of Abuse

The Guardian
November 21, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/21/hobart-boys-school-former-principal-denies-covering-up-report-of-abuse

Counsel assisting the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse suggested the Hutchins School was “motivated by a concern to protect the reputation of the school”. Photograph: Jeremy Piper/AAP

Counsel assisting the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse suggested the Hutchins School was “motivated by a concern to protect the reputation of the school”. Photograph: Jeremy Piper/AAP

The headmaster of a Hobart boys school charged with investigating a report of historic sexual abuse insists he did not try to cover up the truth.

John Bednall was principal at the Hutchins School for nine years from 1987. During this time he received a complaint from a man, AOA, claiming to have been sexually abused while a student in 1964 by the then headmaster David Ralph Lawrence.

In evidence to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Hobart on Friday, Bednall said it was a complex matter and he was unable to determine the veracity of AOA’s claim.

“I never doubted the man was in a traumatic state,” Bednall said of AOA. “What I was trying to identify was how could the whole circumstance be best understood for the school to provide a proper response.”

But counsel assisting the commission Angus Stewart, SC, suggested Bednall’s investigation of the claim was in fact “a risk assessment and containment exercise ... motivated by a concern to protect the reputation of the school”.

Bednall rejected the assertion. He said rumours about Lawrence’s conduct were widespread in Hobart and further revelations would not have damaged the school’s strong reputation.

“I never at any stage said to the [school] board we should try to cover this up,” he said. “I did the best that I could and I tried to be absolutely fair to AOA.”

AOA, now 65, gave evidence to the hearing on Wednesday and said he waited more than 20 years for an apology from Hutchins.

The royal commission is looking at how the school and the Anglican church responded to reports of sexual assault at Hutchins which involved up to eight members of staff, including Lawrence.