Disturbing revelations young sexual abuse victims forced to see abusers at school

A father has revealed how ‘atrociously’ his daughter’s school dealt with an alleged assault following revelations thousands of young victims are forced to see their abusers in schools.

EXCLUSIVE

Thousands of young sexual assault victims are being forced to face their abusers every day at school.

And principals are being left to make their own risk assessments and manage ‘safety’ plans -even when criminal charges are pending.

One father said his 14-year-old daughter’s school has dealt with her case “atrociously” after she was allegedly assaulted in December last year.

He claims that her accused offender, a 17-year-old from the same Brisbane school, accepted a spot on a restorative justice conference at the beginning of the year after admitting some of the alleged offences.

The program was “abandoned” following another alleged incident.

As a consequence, in August the boy was officially charged with a number of sex offences and possessing child exploitation material. The matter is now before the children’s courts.

News Corp has cited the bail conditions laid down by the court on August 30, which state the 17-year-old boy is not allowed within 25m of his alleged victim when they are at school.

The father said he approached the principal at the beginning of the year to explain the situation, but was devastated when the boy was not suspended, even for one day, while the matter was investigated.

Instead the principal did a risk assessment and created a safety plan so they did not cross paths.

However, he said his daughter has routinely come face-to-face with her alleged attacker on school grounds, or found herself sitting just a couple of metres away from him in assembly.

She has even been asked to hand out awards at an upcoming presentation, with her abuser due to be one of the recipients.

“So they want her to shake the guy’s hand and give him a medal?” her father said.

“The school has dealt with this atrociously.”

The frustrated dad says while the boy has been allowed to remain at the school, his daughter has struggled to access basic help.

It comes as recent figures found that 15 to 19-year-olds are at the highest risk of both experiencing and perpetrating sexual assault.

And that males in that age bracket have the highest sexual offender rates of any age group.

Full Stop Australia chief executive Hayley Foster said young sexual abuse victims are forced to face their abusers at school. Picture: Richard Dobson

Full Stop Australia CEO Hayley Foster said thousands of victims have to face their abuser at school.

She said the majority never report their allegations to police, and if they tell their schools, they often don’t feel supported.

“In the vast majority of cases victims have to face their abuser every day because the school doesn’t do anything to protect their safety,” Ms Foster said.

“The onus is on the victim to go to another school and start again and that’s on top of all the trauma. It can have lifelong consequences.”

She blamed “violent, degrading and misogynistic pornography” for the increasing physical severity of attacks and said schools should have clear policies in place on how to deal with alleged offenders.

Ms Foster said while rehabilitation programs can help, the most effective way of stopping offending is consequences from schools and the courts.

She said Full Stop Australia is calling for a commitment to upgrade the justice system to reliably prosecute child sexual offences, sufficient funding for child-focused sexual assault services, and dedicated respectful relationships educators in every school.

A federal Education Department spokesman said the states and territories were responsible for “child safety arrangements”.

A spokesman for the Queensland Department of Education said “these are complex and highly sensitive situations that require careful responses to ensure support is available to those involved, including students, family, and staff”.

He said Queensland state school principals are responsible for decisions regarding risk assessment and any disciplinary action, but “they receive specialist advice and support from regional and central office teams”.

“The school and the department will continue to meet with and support those involved,” the spokesman said.

National Violence and Abuse Trauma Counselling and Recovery Service on 1800 FULL STOP (1800 385 578) or chat online at fullstop.org.au for 24/7, free, confidential counselling.