A former Saint Patrick’s College teacher dropped his head and grimaced on Thursday as he was found guilty of indecently assaulting a student.
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Gavan Dunn, 62, of the Sydney region, had pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a male while employed as a teacher at the Goulburn Catholic College in 1981. He was charged last June with assaulting the 14-year-old when on a cadet camp at Singleton in September of that year.
Dunn had opted for a hearing before Goulburn Local Court.
The court heard that on arrival at the camp on a bus in September, 1981, the boy had been “feeling nervous and was suffering stomach cramps” and went to a first-aid tent. He’d been given “some white milky stuff” which he thought was Mylanta but four and a half hours later, he was still feeling ill.
At this point he went back to the tent where Mr Dunn was administering first aid by himself.
Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said the victim had told the court that Dunn directed him to lie down and had felt the boy’s stomach with “gentle touching”. Then, Dunn’s hands had gone down the victim’s “over-sized pants,” underneath his underwear and had touched his penis.
“I freaked out and went super tense. I’m not sure if I gasped but I gave a negative reaction. He stepped back quickly and removed his hands,” the victim had said in evidence.
Dunn had then directed the boy to leave the tent. The touching had lasted “a matter of seconds” although the victim’s evidence on this point was challenged by the defence.
He claimed he told another boy about the encounter later in the tent they shared “but did not get much of a response”.
The victim reported the matter to Crimestoppers in 2010 but said “he’d hit a hurdle” and didn’t take it further until 2012 when he contacted the Catholic Church. In 2014 he again reported it to police and participated in an extensive interview in 2015. Upon being told of the allegation against him in 2017, Dunn had expressed “bafflement”, the court heard.
During cross examination, defence barrister Hugh White took Dunn through the events of the day. Dunn said the camp would have been “flat out” with buses arriving and “all hell would have broken loose” setting up the camp. He told the court he was not the dedicated first aid officer but teachers who had that training could perform the role.
Asked whether he recalled the victim coming to him for treatment, Dunn replied that he did not.
Asked directly whether he would have touched the victim’s penis, Dunn replied: “No, I didn’t do this. I don’t remember him coming to me for medical treatment. I don’t remember him at all.”
Dunn repeated this assertion to DPP prosecutor Michael Love, though conceding he’d also said “anything was possible”.
“I suggest to you that you did in fact touch his penis in the tent that night,” Mr Love said.
“I never did,” Dunn replied.
“But no other teacher looked like you?” Mr Love countered.
“No,” Dunn responded.
Mr Love said the victim had described Dunn in evidence, with his distinctive red hair.
The prosecutor told the court the complainant was not motivated by compensation, as the defence had claimed, and in fact he had not received any payouts.
”My ultimate submission is that (the victim) gave a detailed account, that there was no other person present in the tent at the time and it could not have been a case of mistaken identity...There is ample evidence to make a finding of guilt,” Mr Love said.
“It didn’t happen”
But Mr White argued that it was a matter of “commonsense” that if his client had touched the boy’s penis, he would remember it.
If the magistrate accepted his evidence that it didn’t happen, she could not be satisfied the offence was proven “beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.
Mr White maintained there were critical “discrepancies” in the victim’s evidence about whether Dunn initially administered him the Mylanta, the length of time the touching lasted, who he told about the incident and their response, and his recall of the later complaint process with the Church’s Professional Standards Office.
“This is a case about his reliability as a witness,” he said.
Mr White accused him of being “all over the place with his evidence,” “ducking and weaving” on the account he gave to the church and “certainly lying” that he wasn’t motivated by compensation.
He also questioned why the victim had “sat on the complaint” for 30 years before reporting it and then waited another five years before pursuing it further.
“He doesn’t have any credibility in my submission and he doesn’t have support from anyone in regard to these allegations,” Mr White said.
He told the court his client had been placed at a “significant disadvantage” in trying to defend the claims 35 years later.
The judgment
But Magistrate Beattie said evidence on who gave the victim the Mylanta was “very much on the periphery” and differences did not cause her concern.
Regarding the length of time the touching occurred, Ms Beattie believed this was more a misunderstanding by the victim of the question being asked. In contrast, the complainant had been clear in his evidence about Dunn’s reaction.
As to why he delayed making the complaint, Ms Beattie said the court was aware why people took time to do so. The victim had not received a response when he told his friend of the encounter and this loaned “credence” to why he wouldn’t tell anyone else until years later.
“He was also described as a timid and anxious teenager,” she said.
In addition, Ms Beattie said while the defence had highlighted the fact that the Professional Standards Office had never advised him he couldn’t seek compensation if he went to the police, as he had claimed, this was “not an inconsistency but a matter of understanding.” The Magistrate said the Office had described the victim as “fragile.”
“Yes, there are inconsistencies and (the victim) lacked memory on some points but that is very different to his memory of what happened in the tent. It is a very significant difference and doesn’t impact on his reliability.”
She found the offence proved “beyond reasonable doubt” and adjourned sentencing until June 25.