Teenage girl raped while in state care in SA took her own life months later

The mother of a teen girl raped in state care has labelled her attackers a ‘pack of animals’ and says authorities let her daughter down.

The mother of a teenage girl who was raped while in state care has labelled her attackers a “pack of animals” and says authorities let her daughter down.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was just 15 when she was subjected to a vile assault early last year.

Six months later she took her own life – but her death was kept secret until The Advertiser made enquiries.

At the time Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard and department boss Jackie Bray did not reveal that the girl had been raped after she came under their guardianship.

Last week predator Allan Shane Dunn, 35, was jailed for three years and one month for filming the girl performing a sex act on him in a motel room on January 22, 2022, and having unlawful sexual intercourse with her.

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

It follows the conviction earlier this year of two other men – cousins Jason Byron Burgoyne, 40, and Ralph Anthony Burgoyne, 45 – who abused the same girl on December 15, 2021.

She was subsequently taken into state care on December 29.

During the December assault Ralph injected the girl with methamphetamine and caused her to perform fellatio on him, which he filmed.

Later that day, the girl visited Jason’s home and performed fellatio on him and Ralph, which he filmed again.

Jason was sentenced to three years and three months, and Ralph was sentenced to four years and nine months.

Speaking publicly for the first time, the girl’s mother says her late daughter would have been glad to see her abusers convicted but angry at the punishment imposed.

“That’s not enough. I’m serving a life sentence without my little girl,” the mother told The Advertiser.

“In my victim impact statement (to court) I called them a pack of animals because that’s what they acted like.

“She told me about it. She was telling me everything that they did. She was angry, very very angry.”

Department of Child Protection CEO Jackie Bray. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

Before coming to state care the girl had been living with her mother in regional SA but left home after an argument where “she threatened my life”, the mother said.

“She said she had somewhere to stay. I said ‘Alright, as long as you’re safe’. But then things just got too bad where she was,” she said.

The mother said an older man had been stalking her daughter and she felt she could not return home because he “knew where we lived”.

Eventually the girl “handed herself in” to a regional DCP office, the mother said, and she was placed in a state-run home with paid carers.

“I felt I let my daughter down by handing her over to them (DCP),” her mother said.

“I felt they let her down too. I put all my trust in them to keep her safe. She was my baby.”

The youngest of five siblings, the girl was “a bubbly person until the last couple of years”, her mother said.

“She loved school, she liked to talk to her friends. She loved her pets, her dogs.

“She would do anything for anyone, she had a heart of gold.”

In 2020 the girl’s father died and, months later, her brother suicided.

On June 21 last year the girl was discovered by a member of the public after taking her own life not far from the government-run home where she lived.

In the lead-up to her death she was frequently reported missing by workers who cared for her at the DCP house.

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said she was “immediately notified” about the girl’s death last year but it was not made public at the time “based on strong advice about the harm it would cause to children and young people around her”.

“The sexual assault of any child or young person is abhorrent, and convicted predators must be held to account for their disgusting crimes,” she said.

Ms Hildyard said there were “a number of intensive and co-ordinated supports from various agencies provided (to the girl), tailored to the high complexity of trauma she had experienced”.

DCP chief executive Jackie Bray said young people in care “often have experienced significant trauma and may be especially vulnerable to sexual abuse”.

The department was working to prevent sexual exploitation through initiatives like the Mackillop Institute’s Power to Kids Program which raises awareness of respectful relationships, grooming, sexual development and sexual health.

100 dead kids: Grim figures reveal state care’s tragic secret

The deaths of more than 100 children in state care, or who were known to authorities, have been investigated internally by the Department for Child Protection – but details of the incidents have been withheld.

Another 53 serious injuries to children were examined through the department’s internal review process between January 2019 and December 2022.

The Advertiser lodged a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for copies of the review files but almost all details were redacted.

Where some details were left they show long histories of reported concerns about children and many reports closed without action or investigation.

The FOI request was lodged on February 17 but documents were not released until July 20, when the The Advertiser received six folders of papers.

The delay was largely due to the time taken to black out any information that might identify children in state care.

Following further enquiries from The Advertiser, the department provided a summary of how many children – either in state care or who had been reported to DCP in the previous three years – had died or been seriously injured.

There were:

• 35 who died from “non-medical” causes, including accidents.

• 11 whose cause of death was unknown.

• 56 who died from medical issues including life-limiting conditions, severe disabilities or babies who were stillborn.

In some cases there had only been one report about a child and no other involvement with authorities.

In other cases there were repeated red flags raised for years prior.

A separate summary showed 53 children suffered serious injuries over the four year period, including 20 which were inflicted intentionally.

No further details were provided on the types of injuries or who caused them.

Asked if she would consider making such information more easily available DCP chief executive Jackie Bray said the Children and Young People Safety Act “is quite strict on what we can and can’t do”.

“I’m not legally obliged to do that if it incurs an identification of a child,” Ms Bray said.

Instead, she was considering how “we can advise community more broadly around our processes” and be more transparent “about how we manage these types of events”.

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said a new across-government review process will also require “real-time” reviews “immediately following the death of a child” known to DCP to examine what services were engaged with their family.

The independent Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee already publishes the number of children who die each year, but not how many of them had contact with child protection.

Currently the committee cannot launch any investigation of a child’s death until criminal or coronial investigations or inquests are complete, which can take years.

The state government has drafted a change to laws that would enable the committee to begin its work – and so deliver recommendations to government – sooner.

Jorden Clay died by suicide while living in state care in South Australia. Picture: Supplied

Jorden Clay has been remembered by family as “cheeky” and with “a heart of gold”. Picture: Supplied

‘Not good enough to look after him … but good enough to watch him die’

By Lauren Novak and Riley Walter

Jorden Clay was lucky to survive a shocking car rollover in 2020 when he broke “almost every bone in his body”.

But now his family are in mourning after the 14-year-old took his own life last month.

The troubled teen was under the guardianship of the state, having been removed from his mother Rachel Cameron about five years ago.

She has shared the devastating moment her son’s life support was turned off in hospital, at 4am on August 15.

Jorden had been in intensive care since he was found in an Adelaide park on August 12.

“Because my 14 year old son thought he had no one and thought he couldn’t come home where he belonged he took his own life,” a distraught Ms Cameron wrote on Facebook.

“Jorden was a happy young boy who was put through way too much.

“He was only 14 years old, way too young to be taken from his family and friends.

“I think the Department for Child Protection (DCP) has a lot of explaining to do.”

Jorden, who was Aboriginal, had spent time in a state-run home with paid carers but at the time of his death was staying with another family who DCP said it was supporting.

DCP boss Jackie Bray confirmed Jorden’s death but would not comment on the circumstances.

“This family has experienced significant trauma in recent years. Our thoughts are with those who are grieving at this sad time and we respect the family’s right to privacy,” she said.

Ms Bray said the department was “providing ongoing support” to Jorden’s family, including with funeral arrangements.

The coroner’s office is investigating his death.

Jorden Clay was hospitalised following a serious car accident in 2020. Picture: Supplied

Jorden Clay in hospital. Picture: Supplied

Jorden’s older sister Tashara told The Advertiser her brother “had a heart of gold”.

“He has always had a cheeky smile,” she said.

“He had a good sense of humour, always knew how to make everyone laugh.

“He is an uncle to my son who absolutely adored him. He’s made a big impact on a lot of people.”

Ms Cameron said her son was removed from her care in 2018 over concerns about her drug use and lack of supervision.

“The only thing they had (on) me was that I took drugs. My children never went without because of it. I don’t even have a criminal record and I’ve never hurt my children,” she told The Advertiser.

“They (authorities) say I’m not good enough to look after my children, so now I miss out on watching (Jorden) grow up, but I’m good enough to watch (him) die.”

In July 2020 Jorden almost died when he was a passenger in car which rolled in a horrific crash in Whyalla Stuart.

His older brother Dakota, 20, suffered a serious brain injury in the accident and died later in hospital.

The driver of the car, then aged 12, was injured but survived.

Ms Cameron said Jorden “broke almost every bone in his body and had his spleen removed”.

“He had gone through a lot over the last four to five years,” she wrote in a Facebook tribute.

“RIP my son, fly high.”