Advertisement

Former St. George's Headmaster Denies Telling Student She Was Unstable

The former head of St. George's, a Middletown, Rhode Island, boarding school that's the target of sexual assault allegations, is denying a former student's claim that he did not take her abuse accusations seriously.

At a news conference in Boston Tuesday, former St. George's student Katie Wales said she reported to Anthony Zane, the headmaster at the time, that she had been sexually abused and photographed without her permission by trainer Al Gibbs, who is now dead.

Wales said Zane did not believe her, and told her she was mentally unstable.

In an email to WBUR, Zane said that he never told any student she was mentally unstable.

A report compiled by attorneys for alleged victims of sexual abuse at St. George's says the alleged abuse was reported to school officials in the spring of 1979, a year before Gibbs was terminated.

But in an email to WBUR, Zane says he did not hear of allegations against Gibbs until around the first of the year in 1980. Zane went on to say that he fired Gibbs on Feb. 5, 1980.

Related:

Headshot of Fred Thys

Fred Thys Reporter
Fred Thys reported on politics and higher education for WBUR.

More…

Advertisement

More from WBUR

Listen Live
Close