A convicted child sex offender has resigned from his post as director of a prestigious grammar school after a concerned parent asked whether board members were in contact with the children.
Dr Peter Macarthur, who made a living as an ear, nose and throat doctor, spent 21 years serving at the $23,850-a-year International Grammar School (IGS) in Sydney’s inner suburbs until he quietly left last month.
He also left the board of the NSW Association of Independent Schools (AIS) which he had spent 30 years on, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Dr Peter Macarthur (pictured) also left the board of the NSW Association of Independent Schools (AIS) which he had spent 30 years on
The now 79-year-old was convicted of two separate counts of sexual assault in 1995 after patients were inappropriately touched while under anaesthetic on the operating table of Armidale Hospital, where he worked two years earlier.
Both of the victims were women, one aged 23 and the other 13 at the time.
He was handed down a two-year good behaviour bond and a $15,000 fine with the judge commenting that ‘putting his hand under the blanket… was some form of sexual gratification.’
Just a year later he was hired to work on the IGS board.
Dr Peter Macarthur, who made a living as an ear, nose and throat doctor, spent 21 years serving at the $23,850-a-year International Grammar School (pictured) in Sydney’s inner suburbs until he quietly left last month
Principal of IGS Shauna Colnan was asked about Dr Macarthur’s past by a prospective parent in May before contacting chairwoman Dr Marie Leech about the allegations.
Dr Leech asked Dr Macarthur for an explanation about his criminal history two months later.
Dr Macarthur claims the board was aware of his conviction, and made this clear in a letter he wrote back to Dr Leech in August.
Dr Leech (pictured) reportedly told her fellow directors that Dr Macarthur would need to be removed from his post now that his criminal history had come to her attention
‘The Association of Independent Schools (AIS) board… met and advised me that I could continue as a member of the board, the main reason being the fact that I was not a prohibited person but particularly that they did not believe I could have possibly committed the crime that had been alleged,’ Dr Macarthur wrote.
‘The AIS board assured me that all appropriate authorities were being notified and that after 12 months there was no need for me to affirm at each meeting that I had been convicted of an offence.
‘The principal of IGS at that time was a member of the board of AIS and he invited me to be a member of the board of IGS. I accepted the invitation and the board was fully informed of my situation. They took the same position as the board of AIS.’
Principal of IGS Shauna Colnan (pictured) was asked about Dr Macarthur’s past by a prospective parent in May before contacting chairwoman Dr Marie Leech about the allegations
Dr Leech reportedly told her fellow directors that Dr Macarthur would need to be removed from his post now that his criminal history had come to her attention.
Records obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald reiterate he went on to resign from IGS on September 7 and from the NSW AIS on September 21.
A public statement was not released to students at IGS because ‘details of his departure would serve no credible purpose,’ Dr Leech and Ms Colnan said in a statement.
They held that Dr Macarthur resigned due to poor health.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the International Grammar School and Dr Macarthur for comment.