Survivor describes abuse after state returned him to predator

Dion Barber is seeking compensation over the abuse he suffered while a ward of the state, with a current WA government minister playing a key decision-making role in his care

Dion Barber arrives at the Perth District Court with his lawyer for the third day of his trial.

The man suing Western Australia over sexual abuse he allegedly suffered as a ward of the state has told how he felt “worthless” after he was returned by WA authorities to the home of a child sex predator who had previously ­abused him.

Dion Barber was just eight years old when, in 1988, he first complained of being sexually abused by his stepfather in WA’s southwest.

That complaint led to him being declared a ward of the state, although just weeks after that ­decision Don Punch – then in a senior role with the WA Department of Communities, and now a minister in the Cook government – signed off on a plan to reunite Mr Barber with his family and his abuser.

Testifying in the WA District Court on Thursday, where he is suing the WA government for compensation, Mr Barber ­described his childhood as a ­“horrible nightmare” marked by repeated sexual and physical abuse.

He told how his earliest memories were of living with his stepfather, who was always aggressive towards him.

“He was never nice to me. He would hit me, push me, call me names,” Mr Barber said.

“I remember it as long as I remember (him).”

That physical abuse turned into sexual abuse, with Mr Barber complaining to his mother that his stepfather had molested him.

The court was shown a copy of a sworn statement given by Mr Barber to police as an eight-year-old, when he described in detail the sexual abuse he suffered and witnessed at the hands of his stepfather.

The stepfather was never charged over that abuse, although he was later jailed for the sexual abuse of a different child.

Don Punch, MLA Member for Bunbury, WA. Picture: Facebook

The statement to the police, as well as reports from social workers and a doctor, prompted the Children’s Court to find that Mr Barber had been abused on the balance of probabilities and declared him a ward of the state.

But within 15 days of that order being made, Mr Punch had signed off on a plan to reunify the family and Mr Barber was moved back into a house with his mother and stepfather some four months later.

Mr Barber said the weeks he spent in the house with his stepfather upon his return was “torturous”.

“I was abused every day, I was told I was worthless, I felt worthless,” he said.

“I had told my story and I was put back where everything had happened the first time. It wasn’t a nice feeling.”

Mr Barber described how he was sexually and physically abused during that time, including an incident in which he was raped while fishing with his stepfather at a harbour.

“I was hit, punched, the more I made noise, the harder he pushed me into the rock,” he said.

He was removed from the home after less than a month after his mother told authorities that the abuse had restarted.

The state has admitted as part of its defence that the decision of Mr Punch and his colleague ­represented a breach of the state’s duties.

But it has disputed whether other instances of sexual abuse described by Mr Barber later during his wardship took place, as well as the extent of the state’s legal obligations and liabilities.

On Wednesday, Judge Linda Black described Mr Punch’s decision to return Mr Barber into the care of his mother and stepfather as “utterly extraordinary” and an “egregious breach” of the department’s responsibilities.

Before Mr Barber began his testimony, Judge Black warned Fiona Stanton, the barrister representing the state of WA, that the state was in a “precarious ­position” and asked if everything had been done to avoid the need for Mr Barber to go through the trauma of entering the witness box.

“I can tell your honour that is the case,” Ms Stanton said.

Mr Punch, who holds the Disability Services, Regional Development, Fisheries, Volunteering and Seniors and Ageing portfolios in the Cook government, is set to be called as a witness next week.