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College has ‘sad history’ of sex abuse
The Weekend Australian,
by Ean Higgins, p 9, July 7-8, 2007
CANBERRA -- A PRESTIGIOUS private Catholic school yesterday acknowledged for the first time a "sad and tragic" history of sexual abuse, after The Weekend Australian threatened to expose claims of widespread pedophilia by a teacher. Daramalan College principal David Garratt issued a statement calling for former students of the Canberra school who may have been abused to come forward. This came after this newspaper told Daramalan it had received suggestions dozens of former students may have been sexually abused by teacher Paul John Lyons in his 12 years at the college. A former teacher at Daramalan, Terry O'Brien, said Lyons had been charged in 2000 with indecently assaulting one student in 1989, but he now believed Lyons's sexual abuse of students had been extensive and lasted for years. Mr O'Brien and two other senior teachers reported in the late 1980s that they were worried Lyons was engaging in improper conduct with students. Mr O'Brien said he and the other teachers were concerned about Lyons's regular practice of taking boys in their early teens to his Queanbeyan home overnight and out on excursions. Mr O'Brien made it clear that until he found out about Lyons being charged in 2000, he did not have any evidence he sexually abused Daramalan boys, but that he had regarded Lyons' behaviour as inappropriate for a teacher. Mr O'Brien, who taught at the college for 19 years, is in contact with many former students. He agreed to speak to The Weekend Australian because, while not disclosing conversations he had with them, he now believes many former students deserve an apology, compensation and possibly psychiatric help. Lyons was still teaching at Daramalan in June 2000, when he committed suicide days after being charged with the indecent assault of a 15-year-old student. A tape of a police interview, heard by The Weekend Australian, shows Lyons had that month confessed to taking the boy and other students to his home in 1989, showing pornographic movies, massaging the student arid masturbating him. He expressed remorse in the police interview, saying: "It has plagued me for a long, long time how it worked out." Lyons said he had "stacks" of other boys stay at his house over the years, usually involving him "rubbing" them. "Lots and lots of boys," he said. In the police interview, Lyons only specifically confessed to sexually abusing the one boy. But Canberra solicitor Jason Parkinson from Porters Lawyers has recently settled two damages claims for former Daramalan students who alleged Lyons sexually abused them. He has three more similar cases before the courts, some involving alleged sexual abuse as late as 1994. Mr Garratt, who was not principal when the alleged sexual abuse by Lyons occurred, declined to speak to The Weekend Australian, or answer written questions. But in his statement, he said: "Regrettably, nothing can set right the wrongs of the past and the actions of Mr Lyons. "We extend to all victims and their families our ongoing deepest sympathy, support land prayers for their physical and emotional suffering. "We also encourage any past student who feels they are in need of support or counselling to contact us directly." Father Denis Uhr, the director of Education for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the order that operates Daramalan, said the college was "committed in its support of the investigations". Inquirer — Page 26 |
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Why we need a Federal Minister for Children
1. By forming a national agenda, so that every state investigates all suspected cases in the same way. 2. By creating a "big picture" and communicating between states about the national issue of child protection. 3. By developing a national database to ensure children at risk don't slip off the protective radar of the system. 4. By introducing recognised agreements on what constitutes child abuse in every state. 5. By keeping child protection on the country's political agenda at all times. |
