AUSTRALIA
9 News
A third of pupils at a Queensland indigenous college had sexually transmitted diseases when a 14-year-old boarder alleged she was gang raped by other students, the abuse royal commission has heard.
Shalom Christian College in Townsville has been under the spotlight this week at the commission over its response to claims the girl was assaulted by four boys in March 2006.
As the inquiry delved into the school’s failed handling of the incident, alarming statistics about the prevalence of sexual abuse across the school were revealed.
Former principal Christopher Shirley gave evidence that he made more reports about serious sex-related incidents to authorities in one year at Shalom than in 20 years at other schools.
“In a year at Shalom … it would probably be somewhere about five (reports) a term, 20 a year,” he said.
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