Mackay teen in child protection services accused of rape

A ‘desperate’ Queensland couple who gave up their son to child protection services have spoken out about a ’broken system’ after he was accused of raping a teenager while in community care.

A Mackay teenager was accused of rape but later cleared of the charge.

“Desperate” parents who gave up their son to child protection services have slammed what they describe as a “broken system” failing “rough, violent and aggressive” youth.

The Mackay parents, who legally cannot be named, said they’d exhausted options to help their then 15-year-old son so they asked three times for the Department of Child Services to take him before authorities finally agreed.

But during the teenager’s time in a community care house, he was accused of two offences against another teen living in the home, a 15-year-old identifying as a girl.

The teenager was charged with rape as well as unlawful and indecent dealing with a child under 16 after he allegedly masturbated the girl’s penis.

Then 17, he was subsequently sent to a youth detention centre where he spent 260 days before facing a judge-only trial in the Children’s Court of Queensland sitting in Mackay.

Crown prosecutor Jessica Guy, in speaking before the court on Friday, October 28, said it was alleged the teenager had “pushed (the girl) on the bed, got on top of her and put a hand in her mouth”.

But Judge John Coker said the girl’s video statement did not prove “beyond reasonable doubt” the rape had occurred and struck out the charge.

Regarding the charge of unlawful and indecent dealing, Ms Guy asked Judge Coker to reprimand the teenager, now 18, as he’d already spent considerable time in custody.

She said anything more “would be excessive”, adding the teen would benefit from his probation order ending in October, 2023.

Access to drugs

The court heard that on the night of the alleged offences, the teenager had left the care home while the carer was asleep to get magic mushrooms and marijuana.

“It had a deleterious effect on you and the others that were there (at the house),” Judge Coker said.

“It does seem that it was a case of where the care, supervision and appropriate arrangements that are normally in place were not monitored or fixed in respect of the matter … suffice to say, what occurred was indecent and unlawful dealing.”

Defence barrister Scott McLennan said his client, who grew up in Mackay, had been diagnosed with ADHD, autism, and tachycardia.

Mr McLennan said the teenager was expelled after his first year at high school but youth detention had provided opportunities to complete work courses as well as achieve the “highest possible level for good behaviour”.

Judge Coker said he took into account the teenager’s cooperation and early guilty plea to the indecent dealing charge, and ordered a reprimand.

A conviction was not recorded.

A heartbreaking struggle

After teary hugs with their son as he was released from the dock under police guard, the teen’s parents spoke with this publication about their “heartbreaking” struggle.

“There was not a single bit of evidence (for rape),” the dad said.

“A rape kit was done, there was no penetration, there was no semen.”

The dad said recent youth bail law changes had meant the girl’s statement, which included alleged “brutal(ity)”, had effectively jailed their son.

“Automatically he was guilty for a sexual rape that he didn’t do,” he said, adding the complainant was known for making similar claims at other residential placements, and they had tried for bail on four occasions but were knocked back.

The dad further hit out at the desperately under-resourced child protection system while praising the carer who’d tried her best to deal with three “complicated”, “high-care” teenagers on her own.

“The manager needs to get a statue made of her, because they’re the ones that say, ‘Give me all the hard-headed ones, give me all the rough ones’,” he said.

The parents said the silver lining of their very long and tiring ordeal was their son’s incarceration had finally delivered the “vital support” and rehabilitation he needed to “break the cycle”.

“We’d had a number of support (systems) lined up when (our son) was eight, nine, 10 (years old) but then the Newman government came and just took all the supports from Mackay,” the mum said.

She said this had included slashing multiple therapy avenues, forcing the family into chaos.

“We were living on one income at the time … and with (his) difficulties, we could never put him into daycare,” she said.

“We tried just so I could work, and so we couldn’t afford those private $200-an-hour kind of therapies.

“It was just limbo.

“We were so desperate.

“(Handing over our son) was not something we did easily.”