DHS worker assaulted by dangerous sex predator at Fairfield treatment centre
A FEMALE worker was dragged into a bathroom by an inmate and sexually assaulted in a terrifying attack at a Fairfield treatment centre for some of the state’s worst sexual predators, after her workplace failed to warn staff about working with him.
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THE Department of Human Services has been put on notice over a shocking incident where a female worker was dragged into a bathroom by an inmate and sexually assaulted in a terrifying attack at a treatment centre for some of the state’s worst sexual predators.
Worksafe and Forensicare both investigated the 2011 incident before charges were finally laid by the Director of Public Prosecutions last year.
The staffer, then 25, was dragged into a bathroom and attacked by a man the department was warned had an unusually high risk of reoffending.
He had already attacked another woman inside Fairfield’s Disability Forensic Assessment and Treatment Service but the department failed to warn staff about working with him.
The man had only been at the centre for several weeks when he dragged the terrified woman into a toilet and ripped off her jumper and her tracksuit pants.
The 130kg man pulled the much smaller woman along the ground towards the bathroom, and told her “Get in there, b----”.
Once inside, he sexually assaulted her as she screamed for help.
The man, who had been sent to the unit for five years for assaults on two women, later pleaded guilty to intentionally causing injury and indecent assault and was jailed.
Yesterday DHS pleaded guilty in the County Court to a single count of failing to provide information to employees as was necessary to perform their work in a way that was safe and without risk to health.
Judge Trevor Wraight said the department knew the man had previously formed an attachment to female staff and had previously assaulted a female psychologist.
He had also been assessed as representing a high and ongoing risk of sexual abuse to vulnerable women while his likelihood of sexual offending was double that of the average male sexual offender.
A report revealed the man had difficulty suppressing his sexual urges.
This critical information was not passed to all staff members who later said they would have implemented security measures when dealing with him.
There was no explanation for why the information was not communicated.
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“This was an environment which by its nature gives rise to the obvious risks identified in this case,” Judge Wraight said.
“There was specific and relevant information about the very real risks associated with (the man). This information was simply not conveyed by any established system, or by anyway at all.
“The department should be acutely aware of what is needed to protect their employees from exposure to risk.”
The department was placed no a good behaviour bond, without conviction, and ordered to pay $50,000 to an organisation supporting domestic violence victims.