A former high school principal did not follow all of the requirements of him when an allegation of sexual abuse was disclosed to him in 2000, a court has heard.
Rodney Radford was the principal at Rose Bay High School on Hobart's eastern shore from 1991 until 2001.
The Supreme Court in Hobart heard he was told in February 2000 that one of the school's teachers, Marcus Pollard, had sexually abused student Katrina Munting.
Pollard was convicted in 2020 of persistent sexual abuse of a young person — Katrina Munting — in 1998 and 1999, when Ms Munting was aged 14 and 15.
Ms Munting is now suing Pollard and the Tasmanian Education Department for damages.
Mr Radford told the court on Friday that Ms Munting and her now-husband Danny Munting — a former Rose Bay High School student — came to see him in February 2000, by which time Ms Munting was a student at Rosny College.
"Katrina alerted me to the fact that she had been abused by Marcus Pollard," Mr Radford told the court.
"I recall being shocked by this allegation. I recall asking Katrina if her parents knew about this abuse and I was told that her parents were aware of the situation."
In their evidence given earlier in the week, both Mr Munting and Ms Munting told the court Mr Munting went alone to meet Mr Radford.
Mr Radford said he took the allegation seriously, and that he believed Ms Munting.
"I cannot remember all the details, I think we spoke about what support she felt she may need and what she would like me to do," he told the court.
Mr Radford told the court he immediately told the school's assistant principal, Ian Smith, and then rang the Education Department's Bowen district superintendent. He told the court he was instructed to contact a departmental grievances officer, Keith Scott, which he then did.
Mr Radford told the court he had a meeting with Mr Smith and Pollard soon after, and put the allegation to Pollard, who "reacted initially with a denial", was "quite assertive", then "stormed out" of Mr Radford's office and "disappeared down the corridor".
Mr Radford told the court that at a subsequent meeting, Mr Scott was "quite assertive in his questioning of Pollard — asking him what had happened and trying to push him on issues".
"Pollard denied the issues that Scott raised. The … temperature in the meeting increased and it got to the stage where [the Australian Education Union representative] intervened and said, 'Marcus, I think you need to take some time to think about [your options].
"Pollard then left my office and then left the school … about March 17 news came through that Pollard had submitted his resignation."
Under cross-examination by barrister Ken Read SC, Mr Radford was asked about his compliance with Education Department policy following the disclosure in 2000.
Mr Radford told the court he did not make and retain a written note of the allegation and the date and time as was required because he was "focused on raising the matter with Bowen [district office] and getting direction from them as to what to do".
He also told the court he did not make the required written report within 48 hours of informing the district superintendent by phone.
"My role had been subsumed by Scott taking over the process," he told the court.
Mr Radford told the court he did not take any steps to immediately inform Ms Munting's parents, because "Katrina had told me that her parents were aware of the abuse".
According to the policy in place at the time, which has been tendered as evidence, Mr Radford was also required to inform Ms Munting's parents that the allegation had been reported to the relevant authorities.
Asked about paperwork stemming from any investigation into Pollard's behaviour, Mr Radford told the court "I never received any paperwork from anyone in the department [or] Bowen office … the only communication was by phone."
Mr Radford told the court no concerns about Pollard's behaviour had been raised with him before the 2000 disclosure.
He told the court that about six months after Pollard resigned from teaching, he found out that Pollard was working as a laboratory technician at the University of Tasmania's science department — which is where Ms Munting went on to study.
Mr Radford told the court he was "shocked" to discover Pollard was working at the university and contacted the university to inform it that Pollard had abused a student.
The court has previously heard there was a clause in Pollard's employment contract that he not have any contact with Ms Munting.
Professor Roseanne Guijt told the court on Friday that she was Ms Munting's honours supervisor in 2005.
Dr Guijt told the court Ms Munting was a brilliant young scientist and that the university had secured funding for her to complete a PhD.
"I thought Katrina was going to do a happy dance in my office — she burst into tears," Dr Guijt said.
She told the court Ms Munting said she did not want to stay and do a PhD "because UTAS had employed the person who had abused her at Rose Bay High School", and that she had decided to change her career path because she wanted to "change the world."
"I was surprised and very disappointed that the sexual abuse had such a big impact on her, that such a brilliant young female scientist decided not to pursue [a PhD]," Dr Guijt told the court.
The court previously heard Ms Munting had been on a path to a career in biomedicine, but changed her focus to become a secondary teacher so that she could help keep children safe.
The court has also heard Ms Munting went to police in 2018 and made a more detailed disclosure of the abuse she experienced. Pollard pleaded guilty in 2020 to persistent sexual abuse of a young person and was sentenced to three years' jail.
The civil trial, before Acting Justice David Porter, has been adjourned until Wednesday.
