Suspected Australian pervert Hilton Munro arrested
August 15, 2014 ·
Suspected Australian pervert Hilton Munro who paid HK$89 for sex with Filipino children arrested recently in Cebu.
The Standard Tuesday 16th July, 2013
Filipino mothers in the resort town of Cebu wailed as they learnt that an Australian teacher-turned suspected child sex pervert Hilton Reece Munro, had abused their children. Some children were just 9 years old. The Australian, a Catholic, had paid the equivalent of HK$89 for sex with the Filipino children.
He has denied the allegations.
Some Filipino mothers wanted to confront the alleged child sex abuser, who it has now been revealed, had previously faced sex abuse charges in Australia but not convicted. Yet, he managed to head an international school in southern China.
He is also said to have done a stint as a teacher in Hong Kong.
The 45-year-old Australian had been a regular in Cebu, a city popular with foreigners for its resorts, beaches, nightclubs and cheap sex. Munro had been visiting Cebu for 21 days each time since 2011, immigration oficials in Cebu said.
Munro had headed the Zhuhai International School in southern Zhuhai until last month.
Media repots in Australia said the suspected sex pervert previously taught at a prestigious boys’ school in Melbourne, Victoria, where he was also boarding master.
Cebu Daily News reported yesterday that enraged and stunned mothers who went to the regional offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to take custody of their children had to be briefed by social workers to not blame the children, who were victims of the Australian who befriended the minors with the help of Filipino taxi driver Gilbert Andrada, 41. He has also been charged with child sex offenses.
The former Melbourne private school teacher has been charged with sexually abusing four Filipino children in Cebu. Munro was arrested at the Cebu resort of Stakili in Compostela town. Police took five boys into their care.
One 14-year-old boy who is alleged to have persuaded the other children to befriend Munro, told local police the Australian paid between 500 pesos and 1,000 pesos for sex (between HK$89 and HK$179).
The Sydney Morning Herald said Munro was a successful hockey player who represented Australia and New Zealand. He toured India with the Australian Universities Hockey Team and captained the NZ Indoor Hockey Team at a competition in South Africa.
During the early 2000s, he was heavily involved in boarding life at the prestigious Melbourne school, coaching hockey teams, refeering matches, organising special father-and-son “working bees” and “cooking up feasts” for groups on weekends away to the bush.
In 1999 and 2000, he took groups of Year 7 students and international students on weekends away, the paper said.
In an interview posted on the Zhuhai International School website last year, Munro said he has worked in international education for 15 years, 10 of those in leadership positions.
Citing the rescued minors, Sheryl Bautista, deputy head of Philippines anti-human trafficking task force, told the Cebu Daily News that Munro would take nude photos of them … and have sex with them.
Three mobile telephones taken from Munro have been sent for forensic examination.
Several mothers burst into tears on Monday when they went to a welfare office.
“I kept looking for my son since 5pm last Friday because we usually have dinner at 6pm,”” one mother told the Cebu Daily News. “If my husband knew about this I don’t know what he would do to that foreigner,”” she said.
Welfare officer Edna Regudo told the parents not to scold or blame their sons.
“Remember, they are the victims … for them, they were just playing around, having fun,” Ms Regudo said.
Munro’s lawyer, Leilani Villarino, told reporters the Australian would respond to the charges.
On the Zhuhai International School website last year, Munro said he has been teaching in South-East Asia, Europe and the Middle East “and so have a strong global perspective”.
“I bring a depth of knowledge regarding education because I have worked across all levels of schools as a classroom teacher … curriculum co-ordinator, program leader and principal.”’
The website said Mr Munro “is an active and sports-minded person, having played field hockey to an international level”.
The school teaches more than 160 students from 28 nationalities, catering for expatriate families living and working in Guangdong province.
The school is now in mid-year holidays.
A woman who answered the school’s after-hours number said Mr Munro completed employment at the school at the end of the term and was intending to work in Philippines.
Mr Munro’s photograph and background information have been removed from the school’s website, the Sydney Morning Herald said.
