Gerard Vincent Byrnes

Gerard Vincent Byrnes (born 12 December 1948) was a former lay teacher who originally trained as a Christian Brother but did not make his final commitment to become a member of the Order. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse published Case Study No. 6 - “The response of a primary school and the Toowoomba Catholic Education Office to the conduct of Gerard Byrnes”, which looked into the sexual abuse committed by Gerard Byrnes when he was a Grade 4 teacher and child protection officer at a primary school in Toowoomba, Queensland. The name of the school cannot be named in accordance with s 10 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1987 (Qld). Case Study No. 6 reports that Gerard Byrnes began teaching in 1970 and that he was a teacher and principal in a number of Catholic schools for 31 years before he began teaching at the primary school in 2001.

Queensland Supreme Court records show that on 4 October 2010, Gerard Byrnes was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment including a non-parole period of eight years, after he pleaded guilty to 44 child sexual abuse offences against 13 girls who were aged between eight to 10 years old at the time. The offences included 33 counts of indecent dealing with a child under 12, 10 counts of rape (relating to digital and oral penetration) and one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 12. All the offences were committed during class time between January 2007 to September 2008 while the student was either standing beside his desk near the blackboard or while sitting on his lap behind his desk.

Royal Commission records also show that the school and in particular the Principal - Terence Michael Hayes - had knowledge of what Gerard Byrnes was doing but refused to do anything or to report the abuse to Queensland Police. As at September 2007, s 366 of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld) imposed an obligation on a staff member of a non-State school to make a written report, if he or she became aware or reasonably suspected, that a student under 18 years of age and attending the school, had been sexually abused by a school employee. Furthermore, the Act required a copy of any such report to be given to a police officer. The information required by authorities in the mandatory reporting of any known or suspected abuse was laid out in s 68 of the Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2006 (Qld) which set out what information needed to be included in a written report, such as the student’s name and sex, details of the abuse or suspected abuse, and the identity of the employee who is the subject of the report. Furthermore, the School itself had its own policies and procedures for giving effect to the mandatory reporting obligations in the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld), but did not follow them during the time they had knowledge of the abuse occurring. It is also reported that Terence Michael Hayes admitted he had three opportunities to report the allegations of sexual abuse made against Gerard Byrnes in a letter to his superiors but failed to do so.

Moody Law has in the past and is still representing clients who have made allegations of sexual and physical abuse against various lay teachers at schools and institutions around Australia.

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