Latest news with #TownsvilleCatholicEducation
ABC News
23-05-2025
- ABC News
Bus provider Kinetic apologises for incidents on Townsville school routes
A regional Queensland bus company has apologised to families for a third driver breach in as many months as concerns about student safety grow. Kinetic is a state government-contracted bus service that operates in and around Townsville. Last week a driver was stood down after students reported inappropriate behaviour. "They exited and boarded another Kinetic service, making the second driver aware of the incident," a Townsville Catholic Education spokesperson said. "The safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priority and we commend the students on acting in a responsible way." Kinetic said the driver exhibited "unprofessional behaviour". The company has committed to undertaking a thorough investigation into the May 15 incident. Kinetic relies received more than $16 million worth of state funding in the 2023-24 financial year to deliver its Townsville services, but parents are concerned for their children's safety. Amanda Wright's daughter was on board a Kinetic bus in April when the driver attempted a risky turn in a 110-kilometre-per-hour zone. Footage taken by the schoolgirl showed Flinders Highway traffic at a standstill as the driver attempted a U-turn. "The driver made the turn on a crest, crossing double white lines, blocking the highway in both directions in our first fog of the season," Ms Wright said. Ms Wright said the driver involved also missed a stop that day. Kinetic confirmed that a stop was missed and said the company had a policy to never leave a child behind. But Ms Wright said Kinetic regularly left children behind, including her own. "All the parents out here know Kinetic's number by heart," Ms Wright said. "So we can call and say, 'Hey you have left our children on the side of the Flinders Highway, can you please go get them before they get stolen?'" Kinetic told the ABC that the actions seen on the video did not meet company standards. It said it conducted a prompt investigation and reinforced training. A mother whose children were abandoned by Kinetic at a flooded bridge said she feared the company was not improving. The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has two children who use the service. She said in March a Kinetic driver told one of her children to disembark and remove a road-closed sign so the bus could cross the flooded bridge. "As locals we know you don't go through that — it is fast-moving," the mother said. She raised concerns with Kinetic and submitted a formal complaint, but a week later her children and other school passengers were told to get off the bus at the same flooded bridge. "We are worried about retaliation if we report something on the bus," the woman said. The driver involved in the incidents raised by the mother was stood down. Kinetic said an investigation into the incident had been completed, but would not comment on whether the driver would return to work. Kinetic general manager Martin Hall said the company took full responsibility for the incidents. "None of the occurrences were to the standard we hold ourselves to," he said. "The trust families place in us to transport their children safely is something we deeply value. "We apologise unreservedly to the students and families affected." Mr Hall said Kinetic drivers in Townsville worked through difficult circumstances over the last few months. "Our drivers have worked tirelessly to deliver services across Townsville despite recent challenges that have impacted the entire community, including weather events and labour shortages," he said. "Our bus drivers come to work each day committed to providing safe transportation for the communities they serve, often navigating difficult road conditions and making decisions in real time." Translink, a division of the state transport department, refused to comment on recent Kinetic incidents. "Delivery partner staff are employed by the operators," a Translink spokesperson said. "We work with operators to ensure an investigation in relation to significant service delivery complaints has been undertaken. "We do not comment on delivery partner decisions on their staff."
ABC News
16-05-2025
- ABC News
Church report revealed concerns about paedophile links at Queensland school
A report by Catholic church authorities raised concerns about the links between known paedophiles and their associates accused of historical child sex abuse at a rural Queensland boarding school. Warning: This story contains distressing content about The report, which was handed to Queensland police in 2022, detailed the connections between seven men who worked at St Teresa's College in Abergowrie, near Ingham, between 1989 and 2012. Three of them have since been convicted of child sex offences, including former school safety officer and boarding master David Justin Crisp, who was jailed this week after more than three decades on the run from police. Alastair McDougall, a former detective who issued the warrant for Crisp's arrest in 1993, said he had no inkling then that the case would lead to the exposure of a disturbing web of offenders at an "out of the way" school catering to vulnerable teenagers. "When you look at who was there at the time and what positions they held, and the allegations proven and unproven against them, those boys just didn't stand a chance," Mr McDougall said. Jacqui Francis, the current chief executive of Townsville Catholic Education which runs St Teresa's College, said its handling of allegations against Crisp between 1989 and 1993 was 'totally inadequate". "We acknowledge historical abuse and the pain and suffering that past students have been subjected to," she said. "No student or family should be subjected to this pain." The "Connections at St Teresa's College" report, seen by the ABC, shows the seven men shared personal and professional histories, helped each other get jobs, and some were accused of targeting the same victims. It reveals that five of the men have been accused of sexually abusing up to 14 boys at the school between 1989 and 1998, while the other two were accused or convicted of abusing children elsewhere. Some complaints emerged in recent years and were settled with church payouts of up to $70,000, according to church documents. But only one complaint from the school has resulted in a criminal conviction. Crisp, 57, was sentenced in the Townsville District Court on Wednesday to serve eight months in prison for indecent treatment of a boy in his care. Mr McDougall, who went on to work for some of Australia's top crime-fighting agencies, said it was his only "unresolved" case and he never expected Crisp to be caught. Crisp was 25 years old and facing charges of abusing three boys when he fled to the UK via Vanuatu and New Caledonia. He finally returned to Australia last year to care for his sick mother in Toowoomba, where police swooped in to arrest him after a tip from Crime Stoppers. "And I'm just really hopeful that that sense of closure is one that's also felt by the remaining complainant." Two alleged victims did not live to see Crisp face court and those charges were withdrawn. But their original statements were admitted as "tendency" evidence in the case and Crisp pleaded guilty, which spared surviving victim the distress of giving testimony in court. The victim was exposed to abuse after Crisp was allowed to return to the school despite allegations by the other two boys prompting him to resign in 1990. An internal investigation at the time found one boy had "mistaken a medical examination" by Crisp for sexual abuse, which a later church report found 'inherently' unlikely. The school priest Brooks Patterson told church officials he believed the other boy's account was truthful — but privately he told Crisp that "there are those of us who believe in you and will support you to the hilt". The decision by principal James Sampson Doran to rehire Crisp in 1992 was "extraordinary and indefensible", according to a 2016 internal report. When then Detective Senior Constable McDougall asked for files about earlier complaints against Crisp, he was told that "details of the previous incident would not assist" and a church investigation had resolved the matter. Mr McDougall said this was "completely incorrect". He said that given Crisp was welcomed back to the school by a "principal who was [later] a convicted paedophile… you have to say it was a cover up". The principal, Doran, died in 2018 while serving a 13-year sentence for child sex abuse. The 2022 church report highlighted close ties between Doran and Crisp, who was suspected of sexually abusing up to seven boys and harassing two others at St Teresa's. Three of them alleged they also were sexually abused by Doran. In one complaint referred to police in 2016, a former student alleged that Crisp "would masturbate over him and other students", while Doran allegedly abused him in so-called counselling sessions after plying him with alcohol "laced with drugs". The report says the two predators were "strongly suspected as having a sexual relationship whilst they both worked at [the school]". Crisp was a former student of Doran's at St John's College in Lismore, where Doran preyed on boys in the 1970s and 1980s. Crisp then worked at the school as a boarding supervisor alongside Doran, who gave him a glowing work reference. After Doran became principal of St Teresa's in 1989, he recruited both Crisp and his father as boarding masters. Church documents show Townsville Catholic Education officials knew Doran was accused of sexual misconduct in Lismore in 1983 but "noted [this] as having been dismissed". Doran was eventually jailed for his earlier offences — but he was never charged over his time at St Teresa's. A fourth former student accused Doran of sexual abuse in 2021. The church report a year later noted Doran had hired three other alleged paedophiles who had close associations with convicted child sex offenders who provided work references. The church referred one of these men to NSW police after an informant accused him of being a "notorious paedophile who fled from Sydney to North Queensland to avoid persecution". It said NSW police knew of no allegations against the man but urged the church to notify Queensland police given his "connection to Doran" through a Sydney boarding school in the 1970s. The report also named Raymond Frederick Ayles, an Anglican priest who was assigned to support non-Catholic students at St Teresa's in 1989. There were no complaints at the school about Ayles but he was later jailed for molesting boys in Adelaide in the 1970s. The church in August 2022 reported its findings on the "possible connection of multiple alleged/ potential offenders" to child protection police in Townsville, who "advised that they have generated an intelligence submission" to share with police interstate. Ms Francis said the Catholic church in Townsville was "committed to assisting investigations for victims to receive justice, healing and compensation". "We have welcomed and embedded legislative changes and prioritised student protection within our current system's policies and procedures," she said. "The safety of students is our number one priority and we have had a dedicated student protection team at Townsville Catholic Education since 2014." Mr McDougall said it was "pretty disappointing" the same information was not shared with police years earlier. He said it revealed a network of convicted and alleged offenders who had "assisted each other to find employment with each other, which has allowed them to cover up effectively any complaints that come forward". Mr McDougall said he thought it would "never have seen the light of day" without that first complaint to police by the teenager from St Teresa's.
