‘Appalling’: Slain teen Kailab’s family goes unrepresented at inquest into his death

The court heard ‘no one had a bigger interest’ in the inquest into the 15-year-old’s death than his family but they were denied the opportunity to call witnesses or make submissions.

The court heard the group crashed the LandCruiser on the Stuart Hwy and Kailab was found about 35m away and declared dead at the scene. Picture: Jason Walls

The family of a teenager killed in a horror stolen car crash on the Stuart Hwy has been left unrepresented at an inquest into his death, a situation counsel assisting the coroner labelled “appalling”.

The 15-year-old, referred to only as Kailab at the request of his family, was killed when the car being driven by another teenager slammed into a tree in July 2022.

On the final day of the inquest on Friday, counsel assisting Helena Blundell told Coroner Sarah McNamara that Kailab’s family had not had the input into proceedings they deserved.

“Kailab’s family were unable to secure funding for a lawyer and were unrepresented at this inquest despite significant efforts on their part and (that of) the coroner’s office,” she said.

“This inquest was about Kailab’s death, no one had a bigger interest than his family.”

Ms Blundell said anyone with sufficient interest in a particular coronial inquiry had the right to be represented, call and examine witnesses and make submissions.

“Kailab’s family were denied this opportunity — this is an appalling situation,” she said.

The inquest heard Kailab had been a ward of the state since the age of five — bouncing between 35 different placements in his short life — and Ms Blundell said the only justification for removing a child from their family was “better, safer outcomes for that child”.

“This inquest has focused on the quality of Kailab’s care and considered whether better decisions and processes could have influenced the trajectory of his young life to deliver better outcomes and possibly have prevented his premature death,” she said.

Police mark out the scene of the crash on the Stuart Hwy in 2022.

“It’s clear from the witnesses who have given evidence and who knew Kailab that they genuinely cared about him and wanted to do what was best for him.

“But the evidence suggests that they were let down at times by inefficient processes, poor records management, resource constraints and complicated or conflicting role expectations.”

Ms Blundell said Territory Family’s failed to schedule recommended pediatric follow ups for Kailab for up to two years, including failing to secure an assessment of his undiagnosed foetal-alcohol spectrum disorder.

“In my submission the failure to ensure Kailab regularly attended pediatric reviews as recommended was inexcusable and the department has conceded this,” she said.

She said when Kailab was finally diagnosed in 2021, it allowed him to access specialist funding and was “critical” to his ongoing care and behavioural management, including through medication and occupational therapy.

“All of which may have had an enormous impact on his life’s trajectory had it been done earlier,” she said.

“You can’t manage what you don’t know about.”

Ms Blundell suggested that Ms McNamara make recommendations that funding be made available for families to be legally represented at inquests as well as for a review of Royal Commission recommendations around FASD screening.

Update, March 13: A senior clinician has admitted that the Territory’s therapeutic out-of-home care system is ‘not fit for purpose’ and unable to deal with the complexity of vulnerable children in their care.

On Tuesday NT Coroner Sarah McNamara heard that 15-year-old Kailab was a young aspiring rapper “full of potential” despite a his troubled upbringing, pinballing between 35 different residential care placements and Don Dale Detention Centre.

In July 2022, just weeks before his 16th birthday, Kailab was killed in a Stuart Highway crash which injured four other boys.

His body was found 35m from a stolen car, left wrapped around a tree in the outskirts of Darwin.

At the time of his death Kailab was in out-of-home care at CASPA, which was rapidly expanding in the Territory after only taking on the Intensive Therapeutic Residential Care government contract 18 months earlier.

Just weeks before his 16th birthday, Kailab was killed in a horrific Stuart Highway crash, near Manton Dam. Picture: Floss Adams

On Tuesday CASPA allied health executive director Michael Manning conceded that the current resourcing and funding meant the service was not fit for purpose for children like Kailab.

The 15-year-old had been diagnosed with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, attachment disorder, complex trauma and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and had repeatedly run away from CASPA placements, used alcohol and other drugs, had outbursts of violence, aggression and property damage.

Mr Manning said while CASPA’s care Kailab was assessed as having a “high risk” of fatality, staff had not managed to re-engage the young teenager.

“His feedback that he was bored is absolutely accurate, because we can’t give him the adrenaline he might get from jumping behind the wheel of a vehicle or taking some sort of illicit substance, ” Mr Manning said.

However counsel assisting the coroner Helena Blundell pointed out that due to the very nature of their contract with the NT Government, CASPA had to work with these high-risk children with complex needs.

“Is the CASPA Intensive Therapeutic Residential Care model as it exists in the NT fit for purpose for someone with Kailab’s complexities, risks and disabilities?” Ms Blundell asked.

“No,” he replied.

Mr Manning called for adequate funding and support for the service, particularly to offer competitive salaries to attract and retain higher qualified workers and for specialist purpose-built disability accommodation for these children.

But Kailab’s Territory Families case manager Gemma Coote told the coroner that she had raised the alarm about CASPA being “too punitive and not therapeutic enough”.

Ms Coote said there was a lack of trauma-informed training among CASPA staff, meaning that there had been instances when Kailab started to spiral and lash out and was “harmed” by staff in physical interactions.

But on Tuesday Mr Manning rejected her accusation, also adding that “its very difficult to maintain a trauma informed approach when you are being assaulted”.

He maintained that staff were appropriately trained and all met the minimum qualifications requirements. While Mr Manning said all workers had “child specific training” about the kid’s particular needs, he added that CASPA was not aiming to give “everyone a PHD in FASD”.

He said during Kailab’s stay there were periods where there were no senior clinicians permanently on the ground in the Territory.

Ms Blundell also raised concerns about the scale and turnover of casual workers involved in Kailab’s care, with the 15-year-old interacting with 123 staff over five CASPA placements from July 2021 — 64 per cent of whom were no longer employed by the out-of-home care provider.

Mr Manning said outside of CASPA the options were Don Dale or homelessness, and so they rarely “relinquished” children even when their needs were beyond the centre’s capacity.

“We do our best with what we can get, even if we think that the ITRC is not fit for purpose, the choice is to plug in or give up” CASPA’s lawyer summarised.

“The one other choice is to advocate for change,” Mr Manning added.

INITIAL, MON: A 15-year-old boy who pinballed between 35 different residential care placements was “mostly absent” and in breach of bail when he embarked on the crime spree that led to his death, a court has heard.

Kailab — referred to by his first name only at the request of his family — was part of a group of boys who stole a LandCruiser in July 2022 and used it in a hold up at a servo in Adelaide River.

About 20 minutes later, the group crashed the LandCruiser on the Stuart Hwy and Kailab was found about 35m away and declared dead at the scene by paramedics shortly before midnight.

In her opening address to coroner Sarah McNamara on Monday, counsel assisting Helena Blundell said Kailab — who was also an emerging rapper under the stage name Palmo Stingah — had been in the care of Territory families since he was 5 years old.

But Ms Blundell said his behavioural issues had apparently “seriously deteriorated from 2018”, coinciding with non-attendance at school and increased interactions with the criminal justice system.

Kailab’s Territory Families case manager, Gemma Coote, was the first to give evidence and told the inquest she had “strongly advocated that we stop” moving him between placements.

“With children and young people that have complex trauma and a variety of comorbidities and attachment disorders, as you’ve noted, they need stability,” she said.

“They need consistency and when you continue to move a young person from their environment on a regular basis it creates compound trauma.”

Ms Coote agreed with Ms Blundell that such “constant movement” was “completely counter-productive, completely against everything that’s recommended for children such as Kailab”.

She said Kailab had told her “I’m not listened to, I’m not heard, no one understands me, they don’t take me anywhere, they don’t do anything with me” which contributed to a series of “escalating incident reports” at residential care provider CASPA.

Ms Coote said “a lot of incidents that occurred at CASPA houses” were “due to the staff not having a therapeutic background or implementing a trauma-informed approach”.

“When you read the strategies that they were using and the communication style that they were using, it was evident to me that it was not in line with the plans and recommendations that Kailab needed,” she said.

She said “when Kailab would escalate, some of the workers would continue to engage him” and “it would unravel from there”.

“In the incident reports that I was reading, from my recollection, it was evident to me that these things happen(ed) very quickly,” she said.

“They escalated quickly, staff engaged with him, he escalated further and then there would be physical interactions that were harming Kailab and then I think Kailab harmed other workers.”

The inquest continues.