SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian
October 18, 2017
By Stefanie Balogh
[Note: See also the text of the report and the hearings, submissions, and exhibits that support it.]
Abuse royal commission: Trinity headmaster misled council over assault
Trinity headmaster Milton Cujes did not inform the school council he was aware of allegations made by CLB, the royal commission says.
The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has found a headmaster at one of the nation’s leading boys’ schools misled his school council over the alleged abuse of a student who accused boarders of carrying out assaults with a wooden implement dubbed “the anaconda’’.
The commission has today released its report into problematic and harmful sexual behaviours of children in schools. It examined three NSW government run primary schools, an independent boarding school, The King’s School in Parramatta, Trinity Grammar in Summer Hill, and Shalom Christian College in Queensland.
The infamous case of the wooden dildo, which was made in woodwork class and called “the anaconda’’, at Sydney’s elite Trinity Grammar led to two boarders pleading guilty to indecent assault charges which occurred in the boarding house in 2000.
A Year 10 boarder, known as CLA, was the main victim.
But separate allegations were also raised involving a Year 9 boarder known as CLB.
The commission’s report said the senior master and boarding master “knew that CLB had alleged that other boys in the boarding house had sexually assaulted boys and used wooden dildos on boys in the boarding house on multiple occasions before 11 August 2000’’.
It found Trinity’s headmaster Milton Cujes was given CLB’s incident report and knew of the allegations. CLB’s incident report alleged some boarders had tried to “rape’ him on August 11, 2000 and this was not the first time they had tried.
He alleged a boarder had made a “dildo in wood tech class’’ but it was not used that day.
“He (Mr Cujes) did not initiate an investigation of the allegations at any time before 7 September 2000. It is clear from his evidence that Mr Cujes did not inform the school council at any time on or before 13 February 2001 that he had been given CLB’s incident report on 11 August 2000,’’ the report said.
The commission said it was satisfied Mr Cujes was present at the school council meeting on February 13, 2001 and did not inform the school council he was aware of the allegations made by CLB and the effect of not disclosing that he, the senior master and boarding master were aware of allegations was that the “council was misled’’ about the adequacy of the response to the incident on 11 August 2000.
“Both Trinity and Mr Cujes submitted that a proposed finding that the school council was misled about the adequacy of the school’s response to the incident in the boarding house on 11 August 2000 should not be made because it is not available on the evidence,’’ the report says.
Despite this the commission found it was Mr Cujes had misled the school council.
“The effect of Mr Cujes misleading the school council was that the school council passed a resolution stating that it believed that ‘existing procedures were properly followed’ and expressed ‘full confidence in the Head Master and Staff in this regard’,’’ the report said.
“We accept … that the school council would not have passed the resolution if it had not been misled.’’
Then senior school psychologist, Katherine Lumsdaine, the commission said, was concerned that senior staff would not investigate the allegations so commenced her own inquiries, finding numerous accounts of students being sexually assault with the wooden dildo.
The commission said it was satisfied that if Ms Lumsdaine had not interviewed the boys and reported her conclusion there would have been no investigation of the sexual assaults that were occurring in the boarding house at Trinity in 2000.
“Save for Ms Lumsdaine’s investigation, Trinity did not seek out other boys who may have been sexually assaulted. Support was not given to the boys affected,’’ the commission said.
This report follows a public hearing held in Sydney in October and November 2016.
The report also said that Mr Cujes did not recall seeing CLB’s incident report and three senior staff members were investigating the incident. “His impression was that ‘the behaviour was a dorm rumble that got out of hand’,’’ the report said.
“He said that he did not ask for the details, because three trusted members of staff were already involved.’’
During last year’s hearings, he said he had “no idea that there was a sexual element’’ to the allegations and he had delegated responsibility for the investigation into the incident and it was not “put to one side’’.
The royal commission also found the prestigious The King’s School in Parramatta in Sydney’s west was beset with a culture of bullying in 2013 including an incident where a student was humiliated at a cadet camp.
Today’s report found the failure of senior management at the school to deal with the incident was “candidly’’ accepted by former headmaster Dr Timothy Hawkes.
CLC, who was a Year 10 student in 2013, woke up one night at a cadet camp to find another student had ejaculated onto his sleeping bag.
CLC was bullied over the following months including being called a “cum rag’’ and “cum dumpster’’.
On one occasion, students renamed The King’s wi-fi networks “CLC is a cum rag’’.
The student raised the alarm in August 2013, telling staff he had been bullied at the cadet camp.
Over the next fortnight, the deputy headmaster, Andrew Parry, conducted an investigation into the camp incident and the bullying, which broadly confirmed CLC’s allegations, the commission said.
Dr Parry discussed it with the Castle Hill police who advised him in an email that a criminal act had been committed and incident should be reported to police.
But no report was made.
The commission found it was “satisfied that the measures King’s took to address the bullying of CLC were ineffective. King’s also did not adequately address CLC’s parents’ concerns about the school’s response to the bullying of CLC’’.
“The commissioners found that in 2013 a bullying culture existed at King’s, both inside the boarding houses and in the school more generally,’’ the report said, and the school’s measures to address the bullying were ineffective.
CLC left King’s in Year 10 and began in Year 11 in 2014 at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, which addressed bullying differently.
CLC told commission his experience at Riverview was “very different’’.
Combined tuition and boarding fees at The King’s School and Trinity are about $60,000 per senior school student.
Trinity Grammar’s spokesperson and council chairman Richard Pegg said the school “acknowledges with regret that its initial response to the incident of 2000 was inadequate’’.
“As the Head Master stated to the commission ‘we could have done better, we should have done better’,’’ Mr Pegg said.
“From the day the School became fully aware of the seriousness and extent of the issue and reported it to the authorities, the school committed itself unreservedly to the review and taking of appropriate measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students.’’
Mr Pegg said “the welfare and wellbeing of our boys are paramount and we will consider seriously for implementation all recommendations that the Commission makes in its final report’’.
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