Trial of former teacher Keith Bates-Willie, accused of child sexual abuse crimes, continues

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

A witness in the Supreme Court trial of a 71-year-old former Hobart teacher, accused of indecently touching numerous students, has broken down in court while giving evidence.
WARNING: This story includes descriptions of alleged child sexual abuse, which some readers may find distressing.
Keith Athol Bates-Willie has pleaded not guilty to 14 criminal charges, including rape, indecent assault and the persistent sexual abuse of a child at three separate Hobart schools between the late 1970s and the early 2000s.
The former student at a high school in Tasmania's south, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court he first met Mr Bates in year 7 when he was his teacher.
"I became a favoured student for Mr Bates … as I was very obedient, I was fearful of not doing what I was asked to do," he told the court.
"He would often adjust my uniform, tuck me in, etc, under the guise of being presentable and doing the right thing, even though the fashion wasn't to have your shirt tucked in so it was just an invasion of my personal space."
The witness was brought to tears while recalling several incidents he alleged occured while he was a student.
He told the court there was a small cupboard-like storeroom where he alleged Mr Bates would often ask him to go into and find "the striped paint" — which he told the court later became an understood codeword for waiting in the storeroom.
"I'd wait until he came in," he said.
"He'd push his body into me, we were fully clothed, he'd push me against the wall and over time that became more and more inappropriate and more severe."
The witness said over time, he was asked to take off his trousers and "touch his toes" while in the cupboard.
Crown prosecutor Jack Shapiro asked the witness "are you able to recall a time when another boy was in there with you?", to which he replied, "I was told to touch my toes and I knew that meant I needed to drop my trousers… it was uncommon for another student to be there."
He alleged "Mr Bates was masturbating … there'd be like a cloth rubbing sound."
Mr Shapiro asked if his genitals had ever been touched by Mr Bates, to which he responded "yes".
In her cross-examination, Mr Bates' lawyer, Jessie Sawyer, told the court the witness had made up the allegations and that the cupboard was too small for two people to be in.
"That's an obscene thing to say, I was there, you weren't," the witness replied.
Another former student gave evidence in the trial and alleged while he was a student at a Hobart school, he was sexually assaulted numerous times by Mr Bates and groomed for years.
He alleged he was groped and molested by Mr Bates in the 1980s on at least three separate occasions — in a costume room, in a spa and while on holiday.
Ms Sawyer suggested to him, he only come forward with the accusations to bolster the statements of his friends after hearing other students had come forward.
He replied, "No, that's incorrect, that's absolutely ridiculous".
The trial, before Justice Stephen Estcourt, is expected to run for two to three weeks.