Child sex abuse royal commission: Victim asked to ‘demonstrate’ encounter with paedophile teacher in Toowoomba, hearing told

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The former principal at a Queensland school has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse why a girl and her father were asked to re-enact an encounter with a paedophile teacher.

Teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes molested 13 female students, all aged between nine and 10, at a Catholic school in Toowoomba in 2007 and 2008.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking at why Byrnes was allowed to go on offending for more than a year after allegations were first made against him to the school.

Byrnes, the school’s child protection contact, pleaded guilty in 2010 to child sex offences, including rape. He carried out all but two of his crimes in the classroom.

Terence Hayes was in charge of the school when Byrnes assaulted the year four students.

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