Eveline

‘I had no choice who I lived with … Mum got no say in it. I got no say in it.’

Eveline, a First Nations woman in her mid-30s, is autistic and has intellectual disability and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Growing up in a small town, she had limited access to education and support.

A disability case worker convinced Eveline’s mum that a group home would be able to provide tailored support and training programs. In her mid-teens, Eveline moved to a group home in a regional city about 10 hours’ drive away.

Initially she was excited because she had her own room.

‘The next week it didn’t feel so good,’ Eveline told the Royal Commission.

One night, staff wrapped her up in a doona, put her in the back seat of the car and drove her to another house.

‘They put me in a little room, no windows, no door handle, felt like a cupboard. I think I was there about a week.’

Each time Eveline ‘had behaviours’, staff drove her to this house.

‘Once I heard them speaking to my mum and I started banging and screaming and yelling so my mum could hear. I was in there for weeks. It was just me.’

Staff would hold her down on the ground and pin her arms and legs behind her back.

‘Two workers … took me to the laundry and put water in the sink and put my head under the water and tried to drown me. They didn’t say why they did this.’

Eveline’s mum discovered what was going on and tried to get someone to help her. Staff kicked Eveline out of the house and told her not to come back.

She was homeless for about eight months.

‘I was freezing cold or really hot, and hungry and thirsty … I felt scared and alone, no help.’

Once, Eveline went to police and asked them to take her back to her mother’s house. They told her to go away.

A man found her and took her to his house.

‘He raped me in his house. I ran away and I hid. I didn’t tell anybody at first.’

A group of guys found Eveline and took her to their farm.

‘They kept me hostage there in a room for months …They tied me onto the bed.’

If she ran away they would chase her and bring her back.

Eveline became pregnant and miscarried.

‘Blood went everywhere. I had no help, nothing.’

She eventually managed to escape. Someone found her and took her to hospital. Staff rang Eveline’s mum who came to pick her up.

‘I was really thin and my feet were all cut up.’

She was too afraid to tell police about what had happened.

Eveline’s mum made an official complaint to the disability department, and Eveline was placed in a group home for people with mental health issues.

‘There was lots of abuse, pushing me and restraining me lots, and I had lots of bruises. I got drugged up a lot to go to sleep, the workers spat in my food.’

Eveline’s mum made another complaint and Eveline went to another group home.

‘All other homes I saw a lot of bad things happening with other clients. It was scary … When the staff don’t like you then that’s when they abuse you or attack you.’

Eveline tried to tell her mum what was going on.

‘If I was talking to mum, they’d say, “Hang up the phone right now!”’

Eveline started to see a counsellor and told her everything that had been happening. Staff got angry at her for ‘dobbing staff in’ and stopped her going.

Her mum continued to make complaints and eventually got her out of the group homes.

Eveline now lives by herself in a house with a big backyard. She has a licence and a car. Support workers help her shop and go to appointments.

‘I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder … I have painful memories and keep reliving the painful memories again and again.’