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Teacher accused of abuse at Knox Grammar given positive reference by head
By Bridie Jabour
The prestigious Knox Grammar school gave a former teacher a positive reference after he left the school amid allegations of indecently assaulting one student and hitting two others. Former house resident and teacher Damian Vance gave evidence to the royal commission into institutional responses to child abuse on Tuesday as the first abuser to front the inquiry after a day and a half of victim statements. Vance was accused of indecently assaulting a boy in 1987 on the grounds of Knox but was not asked to resign until two years later. He was also accused of hitting boys in 1985 and 1986. When Vance needed a reference to get a job in Melbourne, the school’s headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson, provided one calling Vance a “strong teacher and personality” who knew the “arts and craft of teaching”. The reference did not mention any of the assault allegations against Vance, who was convicted in 2009 when he pleaded guilty to sexual assault. The court heard he asked a 14-year-old boy to have a cigarette with him and then proposed they mutually masturbate each other. Vance, now working as a cleaner in Melbourne, told the royal commission he was not explicitly dismissed for assaulting the children though he was told he would know why it would be good for him to take a job in real estate in Melbourne. The mother of a Knox Grammar school student who was sexually abused by a teacher broke down while giving evidence before Vance, describing how another teacher got out of jail while her son was in a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt. The mother, known as ATU, detailed the “horrific” impacts on her son, known as ATS, saying she now waited every day for him to call her threatening suicide. “As a mother I’ve had dreams and hopes for my children. My dreams for ATS have been stripped down to mere survival,” she told the second day of the hearings on Knox at the royal commission. ATU said her bright and happy son became withdrawn after starting year 5 at the prestigious school in 2002. His parents withdrew him the following year after his grades dropped dramatically. ATU developed into a violent teenager who would self-harm and he was taken to a Gold Coast psychiatric ward at the age of 14. After the family had moved to Queensland ATU told his father he had been abused at Knox. ATS said a teacher, Craig Treloar, “tried it on lots of times, but only got it once”, which his mother took to mean Treloar tried many times to molest ATS. . “I was devastated, when with ATS I tried to be supportive and strong but when alone would sometimes break down and cry on the floor,” ATU said. ATS’s parents persuaded him to report the abuse to police in 2009 when several students also came forward. Treloar was sentenced to jail for four years with a non-parole period of two years. About the same time ATS made a serious suicide attempt and was in hospital for more than six months. “I was devastated to learn Treloar got out of jail before ATS got out of hospital,” ATU said as she started to weep on the stand. ATU said ATS was now off medication and living in Canada but ATU said her son still had many psychiatric problems and she worried every day that she would get a phone call from him threatening suicide. “The abuse has absolutely traumatised ATS, he was such a beautiful little boy, affectionate, fun-loving, talented, inquisitive ... as a result of the abuse he was unable to get an education,” his mother said. “Words don’t express the enormity of the daily pain experienced by ATS, myself and his family. It’s been horrific.” Earlier the commission was told Knox put up a tribute in honour of a deceased former teacher who allegedly abused children, inscribed with the words “He touched us all”. Scott Ashton, who chose to drop his pseudonym, detailed years of abuse starting in year 5 when a teacher, Barrie Stewart, allegedly put his hands down Ashton’s pants and cupped his genitals while tucking his shirt in. The abuse escalated to Ashton being digitally penetrated by Stewart, causing him to bleed for days, according to his evidence. Parts of his account were disputed by Knox’s counsel, Geoffrey Watson. Ashton said one of the teachers who was known to abuse students at the school in Wahroonga in Sydney’s northern suburbs died while Ashton was still a student and a gate was erected at the Cleveland street entrance in his memory with the inscription “He touched us all”. It is not known if the gate is still on the grounds of the school. After school Ashton said he became a sex worker based in the Sydney suburb of Paddington and in 1986 was paid almost $1,000 to attend a party. When he arrived he said there were 10 Knox teachers and two students. “I didn’t like sex work but I was appreciated and valued … I didn’t feel I could do any better. I had become habituated to providing sexual gratification to strange men as a lifestyle,” he said. Watson disputed that Ashton was taken to a doctor for a bleeding rectum when he was in year 5, putting it to him that it did not happen. Ashton responded that it had happened. Watson put to Ashton that he was “just making it up” when talking about the sex party where Ashton alleged he had anal sex with Treloar. “The students were taken to rooms and buggered as well as myself, they were school students and I felt pity for them,” Ashton responded about the party. The royal commission heard on Monday that Knox had a culture of child abuse for 30 years and failed to report any incidents to police, with key documents detailing allegations having disappeared without explanation. The hearing continues.
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