Tahlia and Mauricette
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
Tahlia attended a high school with a special education unit for children with intellectual disability.
‘We felt that she would be afforded every opportunity to grow and develop and become the best person that she could be,’ her mother Mauricette told the Royal Commission.
There were ‘quite a few boys’ in Tahlia’s class who ‘displayed different behavioural issues’ and ‘were a lot bigger than her’.
Mauricette said that a year into her schooling, some of these boys sexually assaulted Tahlia in a classroom.
‘They were fondling my daughter's breasts and vagina. They grabbed her hand and were putting it on their penises.’
Mauricette later found out that one of the boys had sexually abused several other students.
‘He had a history of sexualised and harmful behaviours and numerous suspensions … We were led to understand that there was a support teacher who was supposed to be monitoring him at all times. So why was he allowed near [Tahlia] or any other girls given his previous behaviours?’
Tahlia’s parents met several times with the school following the incident.
‘[We asked] them what they were doing about, well, number one, supervising what was happening in the school. How they were educating our young ones regarding safe behaviours and being able to look after themselves … They were never forthcoming with the information.’
During a session with a counsellor a couple of years later, Tahlia revealed that another student in her class had raped her.
Tahlia said her teacher removed her from class after the rape and told her to ‘pee on a stick’. When Talia expressed discomfort at being in the classroom with the boy who raped her, the teacher told her to just ignore him.
Despite knowing about the rape, the school never told Tahlia’s parents.
‘We had no opportunity to have her medically assessed or to make choices about whether we kept our daughter in that institution. It just feels criminal that as a family we were never given that information.’
Mauricette learnt the school had also been aware, prior to the rape, that the perpetrator had been threatening Tahlia.
‘So, you know, I'm wondering, where is the person who is supposed to have eyes on him? Where are the teachers who are looking at what's happening in the playground?’
She said the school failed in its duty of care and that neither the school nor the education department took responsibility for what happened to Tahlia.
‘The lifetime impact that it has on [Tahlia], you know, where education is to build us up, to make us stronger, to give us opportunities. The outcomes have been, well …’
Today, Tahlia is dealing with the ongoing trauma and her family is ‘working on her anxiety and ability to be around other people’.
‘She's a very bright, bubbly, happy by nature human being.’
Mauricette remains concerned that ‘underlying issues’ and failures of the school and the department are ‘not being addressed’.
‘And that's scary.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.