“An absolute delight,” according to the Headmaster. Paul Thijssen, the perfect prefect at Shore School, who allegedly brutally killed Lilie James with a hammer was described as such by his former Head.
“John Collier, head of all boys Shore School in North Sydney, wrote a newsletter on Friday, titled Looking in the Face of Savagery, about “the tragedy” that unfolded.”
Perhaps this proves the point that we never truly know someone. Some have said that a sense of entitlement pervades this missive from an elite Sydney boy’s school. The former prefect was someone who was used to getting what he wanted and when he couldn’t have Lilie…Well, a terrible tragedy was the outcome. Ultimately this is about men and not getting what they want from a woman.
“CCTV footage from St Andrew’s School shows Thijssen following Ms James into the bathroom, but emerging alone.
Police believe he used a hammer before calling them to report where they could find her body.
He drove to Vaucluse in a hired car, where police found items linked to the homicide.
Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding Ms James’s death.”
- (Danuta Kozaki, ABC News, 4 Nov 2023)
Paul Thijssen later took his own life at Vaucluse by jumping off a well known cliff, called The Gap.
The Moral Failure Of A Private School Education
One could be more forensic and state that all that private school education was a failure in the moral sense when it really mattered. Was there a gap in his moral development? All that money spent on, apparently, getting the best that money could buy in Sydney. Religious people invariably go on about the importance of a belief in God in fostering morality in human beings. All that pastoral care and a prefect to boot, well it didn’t really work did it?
“Dr Collier said the “extreme violence was inexplicable, incomprehensible, unimaginable” before describing Thijssen, who he said he knew during his tenure as head of St Andrew’s between 2010 and 2022, as a “fine student, a prefect, a role model”.
“What is chilling about the tragedy which unfolded at St Andrew’s, the shock and grief of which will cascade for a long time, is that the young man concerned was, in everybody’s estimation, an absolute delight,” he wrote.
“He appeared to be just like the best of us. An hour before he committed the atrocity, he was speaking in a relaxed, friendly mode with staff at that school.”
- (Greta Stonehouse, ABC News, 4 Nov 2023)
Perhaps it indicates that his schooling didn’t really scratch the surface in any meaningful sense. Should those in charge of Paul’s schooling have dug a bit deeper, in the character sense? He was obviously very good at putting on an act, at showing these educators what they wanted to see. ‘A role model’ and ‘a fine student’. The perfect prefect at Shore School and the murder of Lilie James.
Prefect Not A Monster & The Brutal Murder Of Lilie James
‘He was not a monster,’ according to Headmaster Collier at Shore School. However, he likely committed a monstrous and depraved act. The perfect prefect at Shore School, Paul Thijssen, took the life of a young woman. He could not have her and so no one would. Some call these crimes of passion, but really they are crimes by men against women. Horrendous acts of violence perpetuated because these men could not have what they wanted. Someone used to getting what they wanted in life and reacting in rage like a toddler deprived of a toy. However, this time with real weapons like a hammer.
“The idea that he [Thijssen] was a prefect, a role model, a fine student, this does not mean it’s an anomaly that he could murder somebody,” she said.
Ms Contos said there was a pervasive culture of entitlement in private school boys, that was being reinforced by the people around them.
“The whole point is that normal people do these crimes,” she said.
“It’s problematic to try and ‘other’ people who perpetrate violence because by doing that, we’re allowing people who exhibit normal behaviours in other forms of life to go unnoticed without accountability.”
- (ABC News, 4 Nov 2023)
Trying to make sense of such a terrible and tragic event is a challenging task. The closer you are to it the less you can see, as you are immured in the pain and shock of it. This will scar the lives of many and so it should. It will have some questioning their part in the lives of these two individuals. As a society, we will be asked to look at ourselves, our cultures, and our institutions.
©HouseTherapy