Brothers subject to abuse, neglect as Qld government agencies knew risks to them

A royal commission has revealed how two children who were discovered naked and malnourished in a Brisbane home with their dead father were failed by government agencies. Warning: Distressing content

Horrific violence, abuse and neglect faced by a pair of Brisbane brothers with autism for nearly two decades was preventable while state agencies “inappropriately focused” their efforts, a disability royal commission has heard.

The two brothers, known by pseudonyms Kaleb and Jonathon, were found naked, malnourished and living in squalor in a locked bedroom next door to their father’s corpse on May 27, 2020 after emergency services were called to the home.

The room occupied by Kaleb and Jonathon's father. Photo Supplied

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has dedicated its final week of hearings to examining why and how the boys were failed in the lead up to their father’s death.

And Queensland’s state agencies are in the firing line, with Senior Counsel Assisting Kate Eastman submitting the Royal Commission could decide in its findings if government players “could or should have acted to prevent the violence, abuse, neglect and deprivation of their human rights”.

The boys were found in 2020 in only their nappies in a bare room, with such severe malnourishment they had a condition called “kwashiorkor” usually seen in developing nations rife with poverty and famine.

It can be revealed the department of child safety knew of the risks Kaleb was facing when he was born in 2000, including that the household was “questionable and unstable”.

The room shared by Kaleb and Jonathon. Picture: Supplied

His father had “unstable interpersonal relationships and alcohol consumption” and his mother had an intellectual impairment, anxiety and depression.

Kaleb was taken into foster care but returned to his father in September 2002, who called child safety the same day while highly intoxicated telling them to take him away because the mother was out of the picture.

Kaleb’s brother Jonathon was born in March 2003.

Both boys were diagnosed with global development delay and when they were found in 2020 were non-verbal.

By 2004 their father was the sole carer of both boys.

Senior counsel assisting Kate Eastman AM SC speaking at the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Picture: Provided by the Royal Commission.

Ms Eastman revealed the state agencies had “extensive engagement with the family” over 20 years.

There were 35 reports made over concerns for the children’s diet, nutrition and access to food, 33 reports about the father’s drinking, and 30 times when neglect concerns were recorded by agencies.

There were 26 reports logged about hygiene concerns, 21 about the father’s aggressive or threatening behaviour and 21 about the father refusing assistance to help care for the boys.

A total of 19 child protection notifications made to the department of child safety and seven reports of family violence, either toward Kaleb, Jonathon, their mother, or a partner of their father.

Police at a home where the brothers were living. File picture

There were six occasions when agencies received report of “unexplained injuries to Kaleb and/or Jonathon”.

Ms Eastman said the information available revealed “Queensland through its departments and agencies inappropriately focused” on the efforts of the father to come good.

“Their neglect was excused with statements such as ‘the father is doing his very best’,” she said.

“And the father was prioritised over Kaleb and Jonathon’s needs.

Ms Eastman said one of the three findings the Commission could make was whether “those Queensland departments and agencies could or should have acted to prevent the violence, abuse, neglect and the deprivation of their human rights”.

Kaleb and Jonathon, now young men, live in care and are healthy.

A former neighbour and their current carer, known by the pseudonym Alexis, are set to give evidence on Monday.