A man has told the Royal
Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse of his
outrage at learning one of four teachers who molested him in the 1970s
had been made principal of the school he was going to send his child to,
reports AAP.The victim, known as CQP, was himself a deputy principal in 1996 when he found out Brother Dominic had been appointed headmaster of St Francis Xavier College, which evolved from his alma mater, Newcastle's Marist Brothers High School, the following year.
"I remember being really angry and telling my wife, 'This can't happen,'" he told the commission on Friday.
"I knew that many other parents who were students at Marist Brothers Hamilton ... and were abused by Br Dominic, also then had children at the school."
CQP says he rang senior Marist Brother Michael Hill to tell him the full details of abuse he'd endured at the hands of Br Dominic, whose real name is Darcy O'Sullivan, after reading news of the appointment.
But Br Hill, who was provincial for parts of the country's east when he revoked Br Dominic's appointment, said he only knew of "boundary violations" when he made the decision to send him to a US program for people transitioning ministry.
"In the light of the evidence I now have, it would have been a ridiculous decision to send him to Wellsprings (in the US)," Br Hill said on Friday.
Br Hill previously gave evidence at a September hearing into the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese but was recalled after CQP, who says he was sexually abused by four teachers, came forward about his recollection of the phone call between them.
Br Hill denies knowing CQP had complained about O'Sullivan before making contact, saying he only did so because he knew he was a former student and might be able to give him information about the brother.