St. John's College Lakemba (Holy Spirit Catholic College)

St John’s College was established in 1954 by the De La Salle Brothers. The school was part of the rapid expansion by the Order in Sydney in the 1950s which also saw the establishment of Brothers communities and schools at Bankstown (1951), Kingsgrove (1956) and Caringbah (1958). In 1999, the school amalgamated with Mackillop Girls Holy Spirit Catholic College forming the co-educational Holy Spirit Catholic College.

Like many other De La Salle Brothers schools around Australia, St John’s has been involved in allegations and matters involving physical and sexual abuse. Three particular perpetrators involved with the school include the following:

• Brother Pius Bernard (Raymond Hugh Logan) was originally a member of De La Salle Brothers, who taught at various De La Salle Brothers around Australia. He later became a teacher with the Christian Brothers. Brother Bernard taught at St John’s College between 1966 - 67, and as a volunteer teacher of religion in the late 1990s. In February 2000, Brother Bernard was sentenced to three years jail (to be served by way of 2 years 3 months periodic weekend detention in prison, after which he would be eligible for parole) after pleading guilty to multiple charges of indecent assault (one charge included intent to commit buggery) against three boys. One of the boys/victims was a 12 year old student from St Johns. Papers recovered by NSW Police during their investigation showed that the De La Salle hierarchy knew from a very early stage that Brother Bernard was a sex-offender and yet they transferred him from school to school. He was eventually dismissed from the Order only after the police had caught wind a second time around of Brother Bernard’s behaviour.

• Allan Thomas Walters was a lay teacher at St John’s. He started at the school in 1985 even after he was on good behaviour bond over sexual abuse charges in Queensland. In 1998, Allan Walters pleaded guilty to having intercourse with a 14-year-old boy in 1985 at St John’s College. He was sentenced to three years in jail.

• Denis Fricot, who was then the school's master of discipline. In 2001, former student Dr Paul Hogan sued the Catholic Church and Mr Denis Fricot, claiming the two sets of strappings he received at school by Mr Fricot on March 16, 1984, were wrongful acts, leaving him with a permanent hand injury. The jury found that while Mr Fricot had proper cause to strap him the second time for calling him a "black bastard," the blows to the hand with the leather strap were neither moderate nor reasonable. Mr Hogan was initially awarded more than $2.5 million in damages for the pain and suffering he had to endure as a result of receiving the strap at school 17 years ago. However, the amount of damages initially awarded was reduced on appeal by the Catholic Church as it was deemed excessive by the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal.

Moody Law is currently representing a client who has made allegations of sexual abuse against Allan Walters when he was a teacher at St John’s College.

We invite former victims at St John’s College Lakemba to contact us with what information they may have, and we will confidentially explain what options are available to help with these cases.

Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.