Dance teacher confronted over child abuse

The child abuse royal commission has heard from parents whose daughter was stalked online by a pedophile dance teacher.

A father has told how he confronted the dance teacher who abused his daughter and asked him how he could have stolen her innocence.

A former student of Sydney studio RG Dance told the child sex abuse royal commission on Monday she was terrorised, bullied and abused by school founder Grant Davies, who pleaded guilty to 47 child sex abuse offences in 2015.

In 2007, the parents of the student - given the pseudonym BZP - found out their 15-year-old daughter had been bullied, molested and stalked online by Davies for six years.

BZP, now 23, is a professional dancer and part-time teacher who lives in Los Angeles.

In evidence by video link, BZP tearfully remembered how she had told her parents that Davies had text messaged when she was 13 about a dream in which he had sex with her and about a threesome with another student.

The teacher also continuously sent MSN messages about masturbation to BZP and other students.

BZP's father on Monday told of his shock and how he asked Davies at the 2007 meeting how he could ask his daughter about such things.

"A lot of these things she did not know what they meant at the time," he said.

Davies cried, admitted what he had done and said he had messed up.

BZP's father said that at one stage at that meeting Davies' sister studio co-owner Rebecca Davies, returned to the room and challenged her brother, saying "I can't believe you can be so selfish. How can you destroy us like that? She must be suffering."

A lawyer representing Rebecca Davies challenged the witness on his memory of her being there.

Both BZP's parents said the teacher seemed most concerned about what they were going to do about his behaviour. He agreed he needed to get help.

They both understood that Grant Davies would be taken out of the studio permanently.

Later in February, BZP's family learned Davies was back teaching and that a meeting had been called at the school to address rumours.

Parents at the meeting were told the rumours were resolved to the satisfaction of the complaining family, which was not true, BZP's father said.

He said he was angry because he considered Davies a pedophile and a predator. BZP was prepared to go to court when police contacted them later that year about him.

The investigation never progressed and the family was told computer records could not be retrieved and another witness had withdrawn.

BZP said detectives told her that "in a court process I would be drilled and made to feel it was all my fault".

Her father said that after police spoke to him and his wife, they were concerned about exposing their daughter, who was already upset because people from the school - which had been such a big part of her life - considered her a liar.

The hearing resumes on Tuesday.


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Source: AAP



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