Hutchins headmaster admits school 'misguided' not to apologise to victim of sexual abuse

By Rose Bolger And Sam Ikin
ABC News
November 25, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-25/tasmanias-former-top-cop-to-appear-before-sexual-abuse-inquiry/5915222

Headmaster David Lawrence and three teachers left the school amid rumours they were sexually abusing boys.

The headmaster of a prestigious Hobart boys school said the school was '"misguided" for not taking an opportunity to apologise to a victim of sexual abuse, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been investigating how the Hutchins School and the Anglican Church dealt with sexual abuse claims dating back to the 1960s.

A former student, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by the school's headmaster David Lawrence in the 60s, had been requesting an apology from the school for 20 years.

The school's current headmaster, Warwick Dean, finally issued the apology to the former student last month.

Mr Dean told the hearings he now believed the claim made by the student, referred to as AOA, that he was sexually abused by former headmaster David Lawrence in the 1960s.

"The work prior to and leading up to the commission became, to my mind, more and more obvious through statements that had been made, that it was likely that AOA had been abused," he said.

"I made a judgement and recommended to the board that an apology should be made."

But the lawyer working for the royal commission, Angus Stewart SC, pressed Mr Dean as to why an apology was not made sooner.

Mr Dean claimed that in November 2010 the board met to respond to a letter from AOA requesting an apology but instead concentrated on other aspects of the letter.

"What I'm suggesting is that the explanation you offer ... seems unconvincing seeing as how central the request for an apology was in AOA's request," Mr Stewart said.

Mr Dean said: "I can only relate to how I remember it ... if the apology slipped to a secondary position then that's what it did, rightly or wrongly."

When asked if the board was "mistaken for not taking that opportunity to apologise", Mr Dean agreed.

"Probably misguided not to be focussing on that as well, yes," the headmaster said.

Mr Dean was the final witness called by the royal commission during its Hobart hearings.

The investigation will resume on December 18 when another former Hutchins school is expected to take the stand in Sydney.

Former Tasmania Police commissioner Richard McCreadie volunteered to take the stand before the royal commission and was added to the witness list late yesterday.

Mr McCreadie said Lawrence had admitted to him he sexually abused a former student before fleeing overseas.

The former commissioner said a young man approached him in 1970 claiming that the former Hutchins headmaster had had sex with him, both while he was a student at the school and after he had left.

The state's former top policeman said the young man had approached him after another man started harassing him at his workplace.

"The young man said to me that he worked on one of the counters in the local department store and was being harassed by an older man who kept approaching him and winking at him," he said.

"The young man said ... that he thought he may have been 'handed on' by a teacher or the headmaster of the Hutchins School."

Mr McCreadie said he approached Lawrence at the school and told him about the student's allegations.

"Lawrence immediately admitted that that had occurred and I was somewhat surprised that he was so candid about it," he said.

"I proceeded to take a confessional statement from Lawrence.

"I then informed him that it was likely that he would be arrested some time in the future."

Mr McCreadie said he did not arrest him immediately because he needed to obtain a warrant and he wanted to discuss his next steps with a trusted superior officer.

The student said he was also abused by the school's music teacher, Ronald "Mousey" Thomas.

Mr McCreadie said Thomas also confessed to the crime.

"I cannot recall how long it was before I went to the school to make arrangements for Lawrence and Thomas to present at the police station so that I could formally arrest them," he said.

"When I arrived at the school, I was told by the secretary that Lawrence had moved back to England and Thomas had moved to South Africa.

"At that time, it would have been very unusual to extradite anyone from overseas unless they had been charged with murder."

The commission had heard from previous witnesses that Lawrence left the country after his secretary intercepted a letter from a student which suggested the pair were in a sexual relationship.

The former police commissioner said he volunteered to come forward after he read reports about that account.

"That didn't accord with my memory or that my memory of it provided a different trigger," he said.

"I felt that the royal commission at least should be able to consider that matter."

Mr McCreadie said the police never informed the school board that an arrest warrant had been issued for Lawrence and Thomas.

"In some ways, I thought the problem had gone to England and South Africa," he said.

Mr McCreadie retired as Commissioner of Tasmania Police six years ago but started his career in the sexual crime unit.

The inquiry has now heard up to eight Hutchins School staff were paedophiles.