Two boys locked in maggot-filled room and rarely fed by father, yet authorities only visited home twice in years

Queensland authorities have been accused of failing a pair of Brisbane brothers with autism who were beaten, starved and neglected by their father for nearly two decades, despite hundreds of complaints warning them of the horrors.

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Queensland authorities have been exposed as having failed a pair of Brisbane brothers with autism who were beaten, starved and neglected by their father for nearly two decades despite hundreds of complaints warning them of the horrors.

State agencies “immediately identified” the oldest boy was at risk of neglect when he was born in 2000, but after two years of foster care, decided to return him to a father who didn’t want him.

Almost 19 years later the boy, along with his brother, was found severely malnourished, wearing nothing but soiled nappies, locked in a bare room with no access to food, water or toilets, while their father lay dead in the next room.

This was despite multiple government agencies receiving hundreds of complaints over many years, relating to the diet, hygiene, neglect and violence the pair were subjected to.

The brothers, known by pseudonyms Kaleb and Jonathon were 19 and 17 at the time, but the Disability Royal Commission revealed government agencies were well aware of the risks from the moment Kaleb was born.

Senior Counsel Assisting Kate Eastman SC at the Disability Royal Commission, in its final week of hearings in Brisbane. Picture: Supplied

The royal commission, in its final week of hearings in Brisbane, will focus on the “preventable” violence, abuse and neglect faced by the brothers and whether state agencies “could or should” have acted.

Senior Counsel Assisting Kate Eastman SC revealed that Kaleb was in foster care for the first two years of his life, with his intoxicated father calling child safety the same day Kaleb was dropped off to him in 2002 telling them to take him away.

Their mother had an intellectual impairment, anxiety and depression and was known to child safety due to the children she had before Kaleb.

Kaleb and Jonathon, born in 2003, were both diagnosed with global development delays.

Their father was their sole carer from 2004.

The room occupied by Kaleb and Jonathon’s father. Picture: Supplied

The boys were found so severely malnourished in 2020 they had a condition called “kwashiorkor” usually seen in developing nations rife with poverty and famine.

It was revealed numerous state agencies, including child safety, housing, and health, received collectively hundreds of reports.

There were concerns about their father’s alcoholism, 19 child protection notifications, and on six occasions authorities were told the boys had “unexplained injuries”.

A neighbour told the commission she saw housing officers come to do inspections twice but they never went in the home, and the boys’ father knew to “fill the fridge” and “wash under their arms” when child safety was due to pass checks.

Disability Royal Commission Commissioner Alastair McEwin AM in Brisbane. Picture: Supplied

She said she could see the boys from her kitchen window when they were locked in their room for days on end.

Their father on a few occasions fed them raw canned casserole or packet sausages. There were maggot-filled pots and faeces and urine on the walls and floor in the home.

The neighbour revealed she did what she could, taking the boys with her when she could and fed them, and sometimes her young children would play and interact with the boys.

“I understood what trauma feels like and what it feels like to be abused, so I understood them,” she said.

Ms Eastman said information revealed state agencies “inappropriately focused” on the efforts and circumstances of the father rather than the needs of the boys.

Flowers outside a Brisbane house where two teenage boys were found living in squalid conditions. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

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

Ms Eastman urged the commission to decide whether “those Queensland departments and agencies could or should have acted to prevent the violence, abuse, neglect and the deprivation of their human rights”.

The commission has also been invited to make “specific findings in relation to particular departments and agencies”.

It is expected representatives from child safety, education, health, housing, and police will give evidence this week.

The boys now live in specialist disability accommodation with 24/7 care.