AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail
‘His nickname at school was the Snake’: Former students of Knox Grammar reveal what they thought of headmaster Ian Paterson… who famous old boy Peter FitzSimons said acted like ‘the King’
By DANIEL PIOTROWSKI FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
He ruled the prestigious Sydney school Knox Grammar with an iron fist and students nicknamed him The Snake because of it.
But a former Knox pupil told Daily Mail Australia one-time headmaster Dr Ian Paterson lived up to that reputation by ‘slithering away’ while providing evidence at the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse on Tuesday.
Dr Paterson, the school’s headmaster from 1969 to 1998, began the proceedings by reading out a statement apologising to students for what had occurred, accepting responsibility for ‘all that occurs during my headmastership’.
Further remarks provoked a loud groan from former students, relatives and support personnel watching on when he described an alleged sexual assault victim as a ‘drama boy who liked to exaggerate stories’ .
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