Ayleen
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.
Ayleen’s father taught non-verbal children with intellectual disability from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. He was very well educated and appeared to be good at his job. He moved from school to school, telling his family this was the result of making ‘the right noises to the right people’ and being promoted.
Recently he became ill and Ayleen needed to go through his papers. She discovered ‘a heap of child pornography’ and a history of complaints alleging he had abused children in his care.
Ayleen told the Royal Commission she found her father had physically and sexually abused children in every school he taught in. He would lock himself in the sick bay with the students. The schools thought it was ‘too hard’ to deal with him and ‘shuffled [him] from school to school to school’.
Ayleen had concerns about her father’s interactions with children for a long time but assumed there was ‘some kind of protection in the schools’ to keep children safe.
‘To find that the education department knew about these complaints, when he was still working as a teacher, and all of these earlier complaints and comments from other people who had worked with him and had done nothing about it – it just horrifies me.’
Ayleen ‘hates to think’ how many children he ‘preyed upon’ who had no ability to communicate what was happening let alone ‘necessarily understand what was happening to them’.
Only one school – the last school her father worked at – took any action and didn’t allow him ‘to have direct interaction with the students unsupervised’.
‘I kind of get the feeling that he was protected by a lot of people as well, who maybe didn’t think there was anything wrong with his behaviour.’
Ayleen handed all the documents and materials she found to the police.
‘It just appals me that this was able to happen.’
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.