Northern Territory royal commission hears youth detention guard allegedly sexually harassed inmates

VIDEO: High profile teen criminal Dylan Voller received exceptional treatment while in youth detention, the royal commission into youth justice in the NT has been told

HIGH-profile teen criminal Dylan Voller received exceptional treatment while in youth detention, the royal commission into youth justice in the Northern Territory has been told.

A screen shot from CCTV footage taken from inside Dylan Voller's cell at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. Vision: Supplied / Royal Commission

Emails from 2012 tendered to the commission on Tuesday outline an incident in which a juvenile justice officer attempted to send Voller to his room after he told her to “get f***ed”.

But another officer told her not to bother.

“Any other kid would get sent to his room, but not Dylan,” he was reported to have told her.

The incident “reinforced in Dylan’s mind that he could push the boundaries and get away with anything with little to no consequence”, according to the first officer’s email to officer in charge Derek Tasker.

Later that day, Voller threatened to “bash” two other children.

According to the documents tendered, the same officer made inappropriate comments to detainees, including Voller.

He is alleged to have talked to detainees about “dildos and vibrators” and said to one boy: “you just want to touch my dick. You’re gay”.

The commission heard allegations of sexual misconduct by a guard towards both male and female detainees.

Former NT youth detention acting general manager John Fattore said complaints had been made about the casual worker’s “flirtatious behaviour” towards a detainee.

Mr Fattore said complaints had been made that in 2008, the man had told two male detainees he would let them conduct a strip search of a female detainee.

Other complaints were made that the man made numerous remarks about the size of one boy’s genitalia, and that he commented that female detainees were old enough to consent to sex.

These complaints only came to the attention of the department’s professional standards unit when a female youth worker reported the man for sexually assaulting her.