The former headmaster of The Hutchins School has told a royal commission that it was not his jurisdiction to handle a complaint of sexual abuse from a former student.
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William Toppin, who ran the prestigious Hobart school between 1997 and 2007, said it was up to the board to handle the complaint, which dated back to the 1960s.
Former student AOA first complained in 1993 that former headmaster David Lawrence had abused him, crimes for which the school has recently apologised.
When questioned why the school did not apologise earlier, Mr Toppin said it was a matter for the board, but said the matter should have been handled better.
"This matter was not under my active jurisdiction in my time at Hutchins," he told the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse this morning.
Mr Toppin said the school was worried about how the complaint would be handled by The Mercury if it went public, accusing the newspaper of never letting facts interfere with a good story.
"(Hutchins) did not have and it has never had fair, unbiased reporting from The Mercury," he said.
The school was given legal advice in 1997 that said an apology to AOA could "aggravate the situation".
In 1999, lawyer Michael O'Farrell told the school not to communicate with AOA at all as it would allow him to "grind his axe".
"I expect that continued correspondence will simply exacerbate the situation and provide Mr AOA with a tool by which to keep grinding," Mr O'Farrell wrote.
Mr Toppin agreed with counsel assisting the commission Angus Stewart, SC, that it was a "disrespectful, discourteous and hurtful" approach.
The commission hearing continues.