Ronald William Hopkins

Ronald William Hopkins originally trained to be a Christian Brother. He later became a lay teacher where he was principal at St Bernadette's Parish School and taught at Blackfriars Priory School between 1975 and 1991. In 2005, Ronald Hopkins pleaded guilty in the South Australian District Court to sexually abusing five boys aged between 12 and 16, between 1975 and 1991 at both schools. The charges included five incidents of unlawful sexual intercourse, five of indecent assault and one of gross indecency. Ronald Hopkins resigned from Blackfriars school in 1991 on the day a student made sex-abuse allegations against him. It is known that Mr Hopkins went on to teach in the State of Victoria after he left Blackfriars.

In 2006, the District Court learned in pre-sentence proceedings that Ronald Hopkins had been convicted in the past on child sexual abuse charges when he had sexually abused a 13 year-old boy at a delicatessen (“corner shop”) the perpetrator had owned in Adelaide with his wife. For this, in 1999 he was given a four-year jail sentence (with parole after 18 months) after he pleaded guilty to six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and one of indecent assault against this boy. When he was convicted in 1999, the Court was not aware of the offences at Blackfriars and St Bernadette's as they had not come to the attention of South Australia Police. Consequently, during the 1999 hearing over the 13 year old boy, Ronald Hopkins's lawyers sought a lenient sentence, claiming that Hopkins had been a reputable teacher and principal when he was at Blackfriars and St Bernadette's. But, in the 2006 hearing, the Judge remarked that, at the 1999 sentencing, Hopkins had misled the court by presenting a glowing picture of his teaching career in Adelaide thus receiving a lighter sentence in 1999 than he should have.

In 2006, Ronald Hopkins was sentenced to 10 years in jail. In 2011, it was confirmed that Hopkins had prostate cancer meaning that he would spend the rest of life in jail.

We invite former victims of Ronald William Hopkins to contact us with what information they may have, and we will confidentially explain what options are available to help with these cases.

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