The commission heard Brother Patrick allegedly abused a boy at a Marist Brothers school at Eastwood in Sydney in the early 1960s and that the boy’s father got into the school, dressed as a plumber, to assault the brother in response.

It also heard that Brother Patrick was first charged in 2001 but that the case was dismissed by a judge.

Brother Patrick died in 2006 and the Marist Brothers apologised for his abuse last year after reports by the Newcastle Herald’s Joanne McCarthy.

The pre-lunch hearing began with Brother Alexis Turton continuing his evidence, and being asked about a former student, code-named CNK, who had blamed his problems in life on Brother Patrick’s abuse of him.

CNK had started school at Hamilton Marist Brothers in 1973 and said he had been abused the following year, as a Year 8 student, by Brother Patrick.

CNK had found that as an adult “he couldn’t touch or be touched by others” and had been in “intensive therapy”.

Brother Alexis said he recognised CNK’s allegations as more serious than another complaint, by a man code-named CQZ, against Brother Patrick, partly because of “the condition of the man” and “maybe a sense that there would be a longer time-span” of abuse.

Brother Alexis was asked about notes he had taken in 1993 when he wrote: “I confronted him with this issue and four other requisitions of a touchy, feely, type from three other schools. He [Butler] was quite broken by all of this and when I asked him to get on a plane to come and see me he found he couldn’t do that.”

Brother Alexis said one reason he wanted to see Brother Patrick undergo therapy was to see whether he was in denial, having claimed he could not remember anything and believed that “nothing he did that” was “in any way inappropriate”.

Brother Alexis said he was “not certain at all” about Brother Patrick’s denials and “had no reason at all” to doubt the allegations being made by former students.

He said that Brother Patrick had been to the police three times, and that the police had said they would not proceed on the CNK matter unless there was “more information”.

Taken to a June 1995 note, Brother Alexis said it appeared that Carroll & O’Dea solicitors were acting for the Marist Brothers in relation to the complaint made by CNK.

The letter said: “The problem apparently occurred in 1974. The brother has no memory  of difficulty with this person but concedes there may be people who have a cause for complaint against him.”

Brother Alexis said he did not recall Brother Patrick ever conceding there were grounds for the complaints against him.

He was then taken to a file note he wrote in 2009 – of which he said he had no memory – in which a former student of Brother Patrick’s at Marist Brothers Eastwood in the 1960s recalled the brother putting a hand on his chest and “sexually stimulating himself”.

The student had told him his father had gone to the school dressed as a plumber to get in, and had then physically assaulted Brother Patrick.

Brother Alexis was appointed to the position of Superior at Marist College, Ashgrove, in Brisbane, in 2000, where Brother Patrick was by this time “still a member of the community there”.

He could not recall saying anything to Brother Patrick at the time, saying: “Specifically, I can’t recall, but I’m sure it would have been mentioned when I arrived there and he was aware that I was aware of the history . . . “

He said Brother Patrick had retired from full-time teaching.

The commission heard that a new headmaster, Brother Robert, had arrived at the school, but Brother Patrick could not recall whether he spoke to Brother Robert about Brother Patrick.

In 2001, another allegation of “inappropriate touching” was raised against Brother Patrick by a student, a “minor” from an Air Force family.

The police were called the next day and he agreed with counsel assisting, Stephen Free, that this was the start of the process of Brother Patrick being charged with indecent assault against the boy.

He was acquitted, however, after the trial judge dismissed the jury and said there was no case to answer.

The commission was then shown a letter from Queensland police to Brother Michael Hill, the provincial, dated April 10, 2001, in which the police were asking for any “history or circumstances which may suggest that the brother has acted in an any inappropriate manner during his extensive teaching carer”.

Brother Alexis said he did not know the police were searching for Brother Patrick’s history and did not recall discussing it with Brother Michael.

He was then taken to a statement made to the royal commission by the current provincial, Peter Gerard Carroll, and asked to read “paragraph 55 in particular”.

The provincial’s statement said more investigations should have been carried out in relation to the complaints in the 1990s and that Father Patrick should have been removed from contract with students and the fact he was not was greatly regrettable.

Father Alexis said he regretted not standing down Brother Patrick and that he should have and would do so if he had his time over.

He was asked whether he was “somewhat naive” to rely on the headmaster and counsellor at Ashgrove to supervise Brother Patrick. He said they were both “highly competent, highly regarded and well qualified people” but he should have stood the brother down.

Asked about Brother Romuald, who left the Marist Brothers and who was charged in 2012, he said he never received a complaint about him but accepted he knew he was a “tough man and a harsh disciplinarian”.

He was taken to a 2007 email he wrote about complaints against Brother Romuald and another religious, Brother Celestine.

He had said Brother Romuald had left the Marist Brothers many years ago and he doubted he was having “any contact with young people”.

He told Mr Free he could not recall whether he had checked the records to see if there were any complaints against Brother Romuald.

Brother Romuald would not be charged until late 2012.