Girl X rape scandal: Abused child died shortly before trial of her accused attacker

A GIRL who was just 14 when repeatedly raped by two youth workers in a foster refuge died just two weeks before one of her accused attackers was due to start his trial charged with her sexual assault.

Girl X is understood to have died from a drug overdose in 2014.

• SEX ABUSE WARNINGS MADE BEFORE GIRL X’S DEATH
• CLAIMS OF COVER-UP AS RAPE ALLEGATIONS DROPPED
• ALMOST 1-IN-10 KIDS IN RESIDENTIAL CARE ABUSED

A GIRL who was just 14 when repeatedly raped by two youth workers while in a foster refuge was still in state care two years later when she died of a drug overdose.

Her death came just two weeks before one of her accused attackers was due to start his trial charged with her sexual assault.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that the then-26-year-old youth worker accused of sexual abuse of the “high needs” youth, dubbed Girl X, over a five-month period was only fired from the facility when police investigations into the matter began after her admission to hospital.

Yesterday, as Premier Mike Baird called the rape and death of Girl X a tragedy, Family Services Minister Brad Hazzard attempted to hide behind a suppression order and refused to talk about the case or detail what has been done to protect other children under Family and Community Services care from a similar fate.

All pictures of Girl X and her alleged attacker have been obscured due to a suppression from the Coroner’s Court

Girl X’s family claim they were never informed about the rapes.

The Daily Telegraph contacted the teen’s father yesterday, who said her family was never informed about the rape and that his daughter died from a drug overdose just a fortnight before the accused was to go to trial charged with aggravated sexual intercourse with a person of 14 years.

That alleged offender is a 30-year-old refugee from Africa who has had several restraining orders temporarily taken out against him.

“Where does the duty of care start? Why weren’t we told? They won’t let her stay with us but they let her stay with a rapist,” the girl’s father said.

The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday the teen was ­repeatedly raped by at least two youth workers on “sleepover shifts” at a residential foster care home. Only one was charged and, despite DNA evidence that the odds of him being innocent were “100 billion to one”, prosecutors dismissed the charges after Girl X’s death.

One of the former care workers accused of Girl X’s abuse.

Yesterday her father demanded justice, after claiming that his daughter repeatedly fled care facilities to run home to him.

“You think they have a high standard and you expect them to take care of your kids; the justice system has failed us,” he said through tears at his Western Sydney home.

Girl X was put into foster care in 2012 after allegations the father’s discipline was too “heavy-handed”.

“She mentioned something bad happened but she wouldn’t tell me because she didn’t want me to be upset,” the father said.

The vulnerable teen died at a different facility to the one where she was raped.

“A friend of hers rang and told me that she found her in the morning about 9 o’clock or 10 o’clock but I wasn’t informed until 3pm that day. We went straight to the hospital but she was already dead,” he said.

The father of Girl X.

“She always ran away (from foster care) and came home to us but we never lied about where she was, we ­always let them know.

“They would come and pick her up and take her away. Why? She wanted to stay and she was safer here.”

The alleged attacker lists his occupation on Facebook as “former youth and family program manager” at the refuge where Girl X was abused.

According to court documents, his former partner was also employed at the facility in a supervisor role at the time of his alleged offending. The partner told police that the accused had contact with Girl X “away from the facility” the day she ended up in hospital.

“It appears from the (accused’s) mobile phone records that the applicant went to pick up the victim in Randwick,” court documents state.

The Daily Telegraph has been told both the accused and his partner were fired after the rape was finally reported to police in 2012. The Telegraph understands that the man works with intellectually disabled people.

The care home operator refused to answer calls about the operations of its inner-western Sydney foster group home where the youth worker was employed. The second group foster home, where Girl X was moved to, also did not return calls.

Yesterday Mr Baird said he supported the ­actions of Mr Hazzard and Attorney General Gabrielle Upton, and that he was determined to get to the bottom of what happened. But when questioned by the Opposition in Parliament yesterday, Mr Hazzard attempted to hide behind a suppression order even though it was limited to the identity of the girl and others and not general facts of the matter.

MINISTER HIDING BEHIND THE LAW

Janet Fife-Yeomans

CURRENT and former Family Services ministers Brad Hazzard and Pru Goward are hiding behind suppression orders to avoid answering questions about what happened to Girl X.

While Mr Hazzard has ordered the DPP to review the evidence on the case, he and his predecessor, Ms Goward, have told The Daily Telegraph that “as there is a suppression order in place it is a criminal offence to comment on the matters you have raised”.

The Daily Telegraph has not breached any suppression orders. The shocking details of how the teenager was repeatedly raped while at a foster ­facility were revealed in a judgment published by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal where the only suppression order was on anything to identify the teenage victim or various other people referred to in the proceedings.

Minister for Family and Community Service Brad Hazzard / Picture: Cameron Richardson

The carer had sought to challenge a decision by the Children’s Guardian to refuse him clearance for a Working With Children Check. He lost.

As with all suspicious deaths, there will be an inquest into the death of Girl X.

In that separate matter, the NSW Coroner’s Court has imposed a suppression order on FACS documents regarding the case, including two internal reports, as well as on the identity of the victim, her family and her ­alleged attacker. The Telegraph has not had access to any of that material and has not asked the two ministers to comment on that material.

The questions posed to the ministers come from the ­material before the NCAT and what action FACS has taken since being notified of the ­attacks in 2012. The Coroner’s Court has no power to suppress anything from another jurisdiction such as the NCAT.

FACS HAS BLOOD ON ITS HANDS: ADVOCATE

Clarissa Bye

THE failure of the state’s child protection system to protect Girl X are not isolated, say child protection campaigners, who say her plight was another case for the “FACS shame file”.

Child protection advocate Bek King argues the Baird government has “blood on its hands” over the scandal.

“I was in tears reading about this case,” Ms King, herself a victim of the state’s foster care system, said.

“Mike Baird and Brad Hazzard can’t just refuse to take responsibility.”

She has a petition, which has already garnered more than 48,700 signatures, to set up independent complaints body to fix the failing foster care system.

Earlier this year, The Daily Telegraph highlighted the plight of vulnerable young children being preyed upon in group homes run by not-for-profit organisations, with high rates of sexual abuse.

It followed revelations a 41-year-old carer was facing charges of raping a 13-year-old girl living at a care home on the NSW north coast.

“It is nothing short of insane to have all of these horrific injustices befalling the children of NSW,” says Fighters Against Child Abuse president Adam Washbourne. “We need much more transparency and accountability.”

Charities have raised concerns to a parliamentary inquiry that children younger than 12 are being placed in group homes, where they are also open to abuse by fellow children.

The Coroner’s court will hold an inquest into the case of Braxton Slager-Lewin, 2, later this year.

He drowned after being placed in a foster care home by Life Without Barriers

BETRAYAL: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

* Scandal broke in 2012

* A 26-year-old youth worker had “several sexual encounters” with “vulnerable” Girl X, 14, over five-month period at the refuge

* He also had “explicit” photos of another girl at the centre under his care

* Another youth worker at the refuge also had sex with the girl several times during “sleepover shifts”

* Classified as “high needs”, Girl X was so enamoured with worker BJQ, 26, she could “recite” his mobile number

* BJQ was charged with aggravated sexual intercourse with a girl aged 14 after she was brought to Sydney Children’s Hospital following a sexual encounter

* Girl X has since died

* DPP dropped the case against BJQ despite overwhelming DNA evidence due to “inconsistencies in relation to statements made by her prior to her passing”

Minister for Family and Community Service Brad Hazzard.

THESE QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED

WHO is ultimately responsible for what happened to Girl X?

  WAS the Family and Community Services Minister made aware of the crimes against the 14-year-old girl and how?

  WHERE are the two former youth workers accused of exploiting her trust now? Are either one of them still working with at-risk youth?

  WHY  was there no criminal investigation into the matter until the girl was taken to hospital after a sexual encounter?

  WHAT has changed at the refuge where the abuse happened and in the FACS system caring for at-risk youth since the revelations of what happened to Girl X?

  HOW did FACS treat the case of Girl X after the sexual abuse was brought to light with the relevant authorities?

  WAS any action taken against the refuge? If not, why not?

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