Claims a paedophile headmaster only molested one child at an Ipswich private school in the early 1990s have been challenged by the accounts of former students.

Male alumni from St Peter Claver College have revealed multiple incidents involving inappropriate physical contact with the then headmaster Brother Dominic O’Sullivan including being groped while they were ill in the school’s sick-bay.

Brisbane Catholic Education has stated it received only one official complaint about Brother Dominic O’Sullivan molesting a boy at the school, St Peter Claver College at Riverview in 1996.

But this week a number of former students at the college revealed how they were targeted by Br Dominic who was headmaster from 1991 to 1996.

They said they were touched inappropriately when they were ill in the school sick-bay, hugged when they showed up for detention and touched on the backside during meetings in the headmaster’s office.

One former student who was in Grade 9 at the time said he was inappropriately hugged by Br Dominic when he showed up for detention to the principal’s office.

He said a teacher walked past and saw what was going on but did nothing.

“It made me feel uncomfortable,’’ said the former student who asked not to be named.

The Guardian & Tribune Weekend has opted not to name the teacher who could not be reached for comment.

THE SCHOOL sick bay close to the headmaster’s office was one area that the Brother appeared to have completely unsupervised access and regularly visited looking to interact with schoolboys, according to the students.

“I was in there [the sick-bay] for something and I look up and suddenly he [Br Dominic] is sitting beside my bed,’’ said one former student, recalling his experiences in about 1994.

“He was patting my leg and rubbing my forehead, wiping my brow … he put his hand on my thigh.

“I didn’t think of it till I heard he had been in court in New South Wales and then I mentioned it to my wife. I didn’t think anything of it but if someone did that to my children at that age I would be straight down there.”

The former student who declined to be named said the Brother was always very attentive to him until he finished Grade 9 and then after that he did not have any interaction with him.

Another college alumni Ipswich businessman Dallas Klass also encountered the Brother in the sick-bay.

Mr Klass said he went to the sick bay in 1996 with a groin injury from a sporting accident and Br Dominic quickly showed up.

“I don’t know how he found out I was there. It wasn’t normal for the principal to be in the sick bay,’’ said Mr Klass.

“He [Br Dominic] was very interested in my injury and it was like he wanted to look at it. Nothing happened. I said I was alright. I think my mother came and picked me up.”

Mr Klass said Br Dominic had a reputation for being hands on.

“Everyone knew he was like that,’’ he said.

He and other students were not surprised when they found out Br Dominic had been exposed as a paedophile in the 2010s.

The students also revealed Br O’Sullivan managed one of the school’s junior soccer teams and favoured certain students.

None of the students can recall ever making an official complaint about the inappropriate conduct by the Brother.

BROTHER Dominic also known as Darcy John O’Sullivan is now serving a jail sentence in New South Wales after being convicted in 2016 and again in 2020 for sexually abusing dozens of school boys in the 1970s and 1980s at schools in Casino and Newcastle.

The Guardian & Tribune Weekend earlier this month revealed how the Brother was appointed to the headmaster’s role at St Peter Claver College despite complaints being made of his abuse of children at NSW schools in the 1970s and 1980s.

Then in 1996 when he was reported to have molested a Grade 9 boy at St Peter Claver College he was allowed to stay on in the role till the end of the year after promising to abide by a “hands-off” policy with students and denying the contact was sexual.

A complaint to the police by the boy was dropped partly as a result of the boy’s father being reassured by then deputy principal Paul Blundell that Br Dominic was not that type of person. 

The father in a statement to police in 2015 said he also had his son drop the complaint because of concerns about the impact on his son if there was an investigation.

Mr Blundell who retired after a long career with Catholic Education has declined to comment. 

He gave a statement to police in 2015 saying he had been unaware of any other issues with the Brother.

The victim said after the complaint was dropped Br Dominic made him feel uncomfortable by staring at him during assembly and lurking behind him in class.

Br Dominic left the school at the end of 1996 and was sent to the United States to attend a religious renewal course. He later returned and finished his career as assistant community leader and personal assistant to the principal of Marist Brothers Ashgrove boys boarding school in Brisbane from 2005 to 2010.

Victims of his abuse in NSW have expressed concern that the Brother would have been able to prey on students at St Peter Claver College given his powerful role as the school’s headmaster. 

Evidence of the coverup of his abuse in New South Wales and his transfer to St Peter Claver College that had been uncovered by the Royal Commission into the Institutional Response to Child Abuse had previously been suppressed while the Brother appeared in court in NSW.

But last year the evidence was made public after he was sentenced to a further jail term for the offences in NSW.

On Thursday Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) did not comment on whether it would be launching its own investigation into whether anybody had been abused while at St Peter Claver College during Br Dominic’s tenure.

In a statement BCE said it was aware of only one complaint from 1996 which had been referred to the police.

A BCE spokesman said should anyone in the wider St Peter Claver College community have knowledge of misconduct involving Br Dominic O’Sullivan they are encouraged to contact police.

Call to investigate paedophile principal’s time at school

A victim of Br Dominic O’Sullivan’s from New South Wales this week called on St Peter Claver College to do a full investigation into the Marist brother’s time at the Ipswich school and also to conduct a comprehensive media campaign to call for information from former students.

The victim codenamed CQT at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse suffered not just his own sexual abuse from Br Dominic but also had his 13-year-old brother Andrew Nash suicide because of suspected abuse from the Brother at their Hamilton school in Newcastle in the 1970s.

CQT this week said there would likely be numerous victims from the brother’s time at St Peter Claver College.

“Br Dominic is currently in jail for a massive amount of child sexual abuse in multiple locations over decades and the idea that he just suddently stopped offending, that’s dreaming,’’ said CQT.

“He’s a serial offender and he offended all through the 1970s and the 1980s and there is the same recurring theme.”

CQT said Br Dominic was known to target boys in the sick-bay at schools as did other Brothers who worked with Dominic.

He called for a proper investigation to be undertaken into Br Dominic’s time as headmaster at the school.

“There needs to be a full investigation at the school and find out about the Brother’s time there,’’ he said.

“Just sitting there and waiting for them to go to the police is not good enough.” 

CQT said the school also needed to undertake a media campaign to publicise the situation.

“There will be ex-students who are alone and suffering and it’s the school’s Christian duty to reach out to those poor Catholic boys and help them,’’ he said.

CQT was one of numerous students abused by Br Dominic during special technical drawing classes held at the Newcastle school.

His brother Andrew Nash, aged 13, took his own life in 1974 following what was suspected to be repeated abuse by Br Dominic and another Marist Brother.  Andrew Nash was a member of a school choir taught by Br Dominic.

Audrey Nash, the mother of Andrew and CQT, also this week called for the school to be proactive about assisting any potential victims. Below is an image of Andrew Nash supplied by the Nash family.

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