AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times
The former student protection officer at a Queensland Catholic primary school still can’t believe that 13 girls didn’t have the courage to speak out about being sexually abused by their teacher.
Catherine Long, who is still a teacher at the school, gave evidence at a hearing of Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Monday.
Ms Long was present at a 2007 meeting between the school’s principal Terence Hayes and a girl who had a complaint about being abused by teacher Gerard Byrnes.
She says although she was the school’s student protection officer at the time, she did not report the complaint to police.
“No, I didn’t think I was in charge of the situation,” Ms Long told the enquiry.
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