Former Principal Who Warned of Dangerous Priest to Sue Catholic Church
By Adam Cooper
In the 1980s, the Holy Family School in Doveton was prospering despite its disadvantaged setting, and Mr Sleeman – adored by pupils, admired by staff and parents – had the world "at my feet". But the arrival of paedophile Peter Searson as parish priest in 1984 meant Mr Sleeman's primary focus was to shield his flock from danger. After more than two years, Mr Sleeman resigned in frustration at having his repeated warnings dismissed. He never found another education job because, he believes, the Catholic church blacklisted him. Over the following years, a brilliant career was ruined and his mental health plummeted to the point he considered suicide.
Mr Sleeman now plans to sue the Catholic church over the archdiocese of Melbourne's catastrophic inaction in the 1980s on his complaints about Searson. He estimates his lost education career cost him $3 million. Searson's infamy was known at the top: the then archbishop of Melbourne, Frank Little, knew of an allegation Searson raped a young woman in 1974, and his conduct around parishioners and children was discussed at archdiocese meetings in the early 1980s. In Doveton, Mr Sleeman soon witnessed the priest's bizarre and disturbing behaviour. He recalled Searson wore military fatigues, carried a gun and insulted school staff. Others heard he was cruel to animals and showed children a body in a coffin.
But most damaging, Mr Sleeman knew of reports Searson abused children, and the principal saw the distress in their faces. "Searson taught me what evil was," he said. In between patrolling the school grounds to watch for the priest, he lodged countless complaints with the archdiocese's office, urging that Searson be removed or investigated. But he was constantly rebuffed for a lack of "concrete" evidence. "I remember saying at one stage, 'Even if I gave you a video of him sexually abusing children I don't think you'd believe me'," he recalled. Eventually, the inaction took its toll. In September 1986, Mr Sleeman and his wife Jenese agreed he had to resign as principal. Staying on, he figured, would be viewed by parents as support for Searson, and he believed his departure would spark action from the church. It didn't. The paedophile priest stayed at Doveton until 1997 when George Pell, then the archbishop of Melbourne, stood him down. That year, Searson pleaded guilty to physically (not sexually) assaulting a child and was put on a good behaviour bond without conviction. Searson died in 2009 and was never charged with sexual abuse. In its damning report of the Melbourne archdiocese's failings at Doveton, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse criticised as "extraordinary" the repeated missed opportunities of church leaders, including archbishop Little, to recognise the seriousness of reports about Searson, when they should have suspended him and contacted police. The royal commission also found that based on what the-now Cardinal Pell knew at the time, he ought to have reasonably concluded that action was needed on Searson. Searson's abuse of student BVC in 1992 was directly attributable to archbishop Little's failure to protect children, the royal commission found. "BVC's story reveals the tragic consequences of inaction. If Father Searson had been removed before 1992, BVC may not have been sexually abused," the commissioners found. On Mr Sleeman's resignation, the commissioners wrote: "The effect of that inaction was that the archdiocese supported Father Searson and did not support Mr Sleeman".
After leaving the Holy Family School, Mr Sleeman couldn't land a job in education anywhere in Australia. He came close in Mount Isa, but the offer was withdrawn. He became a "downhill racer" as his mental health slid, until he returned to his childhood love of horses and gained renown for driving horses across the country. But long stints on the road and relocating for work were unsettling. He and Jenese now live on a friend's property in Currumbin, near the NSW-Queensland border, where horses are a therapy. But retirement hasn't been easy. The couple rent out their home to cover the mortgage. With health problems and debts, Mr Sleeman said he now had no other choice than to lodge a writ against the archdiocese, seeking compensation for psychiatric harm and lost earnings.
The church has apologised but, Mr Sleeman says, "words and apologies don't pay the bills". Barrister David O'Brien, who represented Mr Sleeman at the royal commission, said whistleblowers should be hailed by the church if it was sincere in trying to address the scourge of sexual abuse. "He's the one whose career was sacrificed. It's a tragedy what happened to Graeme and others like BVC," Mr O'Brien said. "The church needs to treat whistleblowers with respect if they want this issue out in the open and not to stay in a dark corner." Phil O'Donnell, who as an assistant priest in Sunbury in 1982 contacted the archdiocese to raise concerns about Searson, believes his friend is the victim of an injustice, similar to Denis Ryan, the former Mildura policeman whose efforts to investigate a paedophile priest cost him his career. It took decades before Mr Ryan received an apology and financial compensation. Annie Carrett, a spokeswoman for the Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, said the archbishop accepted the royal commission's findings and had apologised to Mr Sleeman and others at Doveton, personally and at a public mass last year. "An acknowledgement was also given to the tireless work and voice that people such as Mr Sleeman had given to those who had suffered abuse, and a further public commitment was shared to ensure the Archdiocese would continue to protect the most vulnerable into the future," Ms Carrettsaid in a statement. Reviews of Mr Sleeman's case, in 2003 and last year, found "no evidence of a black-balling process", Ms Carrett said, and the Melbourne Archdiocese could not be blamed for his resignation. But the church previously offered $150,000 in compensation – which Mr Sleeman accepted in 2005 – and had made an offer of another payment. "If Mr Sleeman elects to take legal proceedings, these will be dealt with on their merits," Ms Carrett said. Julie Stewart, a former student at the Holy Family School, was repeatedly abused by Searson in 1984 and 1985 when aged nine and 10. She remembers Mr Sleeman trying to console her after she ran out of the confessional crying, and suspects he still feels guilty he couldn't prevent what happened. "In his mind he couldn't look after that little girl," she said. "That doesn't sit well at all with me. He didn't do anything wrong, he did everything right." Ms Stewart said her "most wonderful principal" deserved peace. "He did the best he could with every ounce of fibre he could muster," she said. Those at Doveton knew at the time the reasons behind Mr Sleeman's resignation, Ms Stewart said. Despite the stresses of the past quarter century, Mr Sleeman said the principled path was the right one. "I sleep well every night knowing that what I did was right," he said. "I've been asked by many people would I have changed things if I had my time over again. I would have done exactly the same thing."
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