A SUPPRESSION order was today lifted in Mandurah Magistrates Court to name Matthew Edward Faulkner as the teacher accused of 16 child sex offences.
Mr Faulkner was not present in court today when the decision was announced.
Mr Faulkner, at his last appearance in June, had refused to comment when he left the Mandurah courthouse; instead electing to hold a mobile phone to his face and conceal his eyes behind dark sunglasses as local parents’ yelled abuse.
He was quickly whisked from the courthouse by a friend on that occasion.
Mr Faulkner is a former head of primary school at Mandurah Catholic College, where the alleged incidents took place, and a former principal at St Joseph's College and more recently at Assumption Catholic Primary School.
At the last appearance, Mr Faulkner indicated he would vigorously defend the charges.
The 53-year-old was originally granted the order as a way to stop “speculation” as to which children were involved.
“People will say ‘There was that kid that used to be his pet’,” Mr Faulkner’s lawyer had argued.
It was also put to the court that naming the man “may discourage” other victims from coming forward.
Today, Magistrate Vivien Edwards lifted the order preventing news outlets to publish Mr Faulkner’s name and the school where the alleged offence took place.
It is alleged Mr Faulkner sexually assaulted a male youth over several months in 1997 when the victim was aged just 15.
The accused was 37 years old at the time.
The now 53-year-old has been remanded to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on October 25.
