St Peter’s College Sex Abuse Case: Victim’s Mother Helen Continues to Fight for Justice for David

By Nigel Hunt
The Advertiser
July 31, 2017

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FOR the past 25 years, Helen has been fighting for justice for her son, David.

At first it was against disgraced priest John Mountford, the man who sexually abused her son while he was a student at St Peter’s College. Once that avenue was exhausted, she took on the school that allowed the abuse to occur by employing the paedophile priest and allowing him to prey on the school community.

And once that fight was won, with a compensation settlement for her son, she turned her sights on not just those in charge of the school, but the head of Anglican Diocese of Adelaide at the time — Dr Ian George.

Helen, who does not wish to be identified, wants Dr George and the school to be held accountable over the role they played in Mountford’s rapid departure from Adelaide after he confessed to abusing a student.

While this occurred in June, 1992, she only became aware of the facts surrounding it in May, 2004, when an independent Board of Inquiry into the Adelaide diocese’s handling of sexual abuse allegations report was released.