St Patrick’s College Strathfield

St Patrick's College (known colloquially as SPC or St Pats), is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex primary and secondary day school for boys, located in Strathfield, Sydney. The school was founded in 1928 as a Christian Brothers school in the tradition of Edmund Rice. By 2007 the College had an enrollment of approximately 1,430 students from Year 5 to Year 12.

The school has unfortunately been a hotspot for the systematic sexual abuse of many of its students by Brothers and other employees working and serving there. The Wood Commission in 1997 and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse received many submissions and scrutinised the inappropriate behaviour of various Brothers of the School. This includes (among others) Brother Michael Evans who committed suicide before facing the reality of serving time in prison for allegations made against him for child sexual abuse; Brother Roger King who was found guilty in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court in 2017 of a number of sexual offences committed against students at the School in the 1970s and 1980s; Brother Cajetan McAllen (died in 1965) in regards to allegations of sexual abuse of students between 1961 to 1965; and Brother Desmond Eric ("Neil") Richards who in October 2018 at Parramatta District Court was sentenced to additional jail time for certain offences committed at St Patrick’s in 1986 and 1987. He sexually abused students in Years 5 and 6.

Moody Law has represented and is still representing clients who were victims of sexual abuse at St Patrick’s College and in other institutions run by the Christian Brothers.

We invite former students, past-teachers and parents to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.

Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.