THE nation's peak Catholic education body ignored the dangerous state of trees at a Darwin school and then staged a "cover-up" after a nine-year-old student was killed by a falling branch, an inquest has heard. The former chairman of the St Mary's Primary School board, Michael Spadaccini, said he was threatened by the Northern Territory branch of the Catholic Education Office (CEO) and ostracised by the church for speaking out about the dire state of the trees.
''(Former CEO director Bill Griffiths) even stated that Darwin was a small place, I was a little fish, and I had to be careful about what I say,'' Mr Spadaccini said in a statutory declaration read to the inquest into the death in August 2006 of Aidan Bott.
"As I started making recommendations and pushing for attention for major school issues (the former principal Tony O'Brien), the CEO and even the church refused to speak to me.
"I believe that Tony O'Brien and the CEO were always fully aware of the dangerous tree situation in the school courtyard.''
But they "did not want to deal with the matter'' and on August 16 rejected an $8,000 quote to cut them down, Mr Spadaccini said,.
"I responded, 'what was a life worth?' My comments were laughed at.
"It was only a few weeks later that Aidan (Bott) died.''
Aidan died after the branch of an African Mahogany tree hit him on the head while he was eating his lunch at the school on August 22, 2006.
Suffering severe brain damage, the year four student remained in a coma for a week before dying on August 29.
As Mr Spadaccini's statutory declaration was read out the boy's mother, Robyn Hunt, burst into tears.
NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh said Mr Spadaccini's evidence and another letter not read to the court indicated both the school principal and the CEO were well aware of the dangers posed by the tree, and had been for some time.
"That is explosive,'' he said.
"The evidence rather speaks for itself in my view.''
The deputy director of the CEO and the former St Mary's principal, Mr O'Brien, have denied knowing the trees were dangerous.
Mr Cavanagh today warned the CEO and the school not to try to hamper his efforts at uncovering the truth.
Setbacks during the inquest have included the file of a former groundsmen - who claimed to have sent 10 letters stating his concerns - going missing.
It surfaced on the second day of the inquest, but without the letters.
The coroner is also yet to see the full minutes of the school board, in particular those pertaining to a lack of school maintenance and the reasons behind a vote of no confidence in both the principal and CEO.
This is despite the fact that the full set of minutes was provided to the CEO by a board member at Christmas 2006.
"I want to know the details concerning maintenance at this school, who knew what ... and what solutions were being provided, and I will not be stopped from getting to the truth,'' Mr Cavanagh said.
Mr Spadaccini, who resigned and withdrew his own children from the school after Aidan's death, said he wanted to give evidence in court "and give the truth about the cover-ups by the Darwin Catholic Education Department''.
The court also heard that St Mary's spent seven times less on maintenance than the average amount budgeted for public schools in the Northern Territory.
The inquest was adjourned to March 18.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce