Gunner and Emmanuel

‘That’s why we’ve got abuse and neglect … people are too scared to speak up.’

Gunner developed a rare disease when he was a baby and has global brain damage. He ‘understands’, Gunner’s father Emmanuel says, ‘but he doesn’t walk, he doesn’t talk, he can’t defend himself’. Now in his 30s, Gunner lives in a group home with four other people.

Not long after Gunner moved into the home Emmanuel became concerned about the house coordinator. She often yelled, screamed and swore and would bang her hand on the table to get Gunner to eat.

Then on Christmas day, one of the female residents wouldn’t eat her dinner and was making a lot of noise.

The coordinator declared she knew what was wrong with the woman and took a piece of cheese from the fridge and handed it to her. The woman took it and started to eat but the coordinator snatched it back and grabbed her by the arm, told her she wasn’t getting Christmas dinner and locked her in the toilet.

Emmanuel didn’t complain at the time because he was worried there would be repercussions for Gunner. By the time he did complain Gunner had sustained a number of unexplained injuries.

One time Emmanuel noticed Gunner was in pain. He felt his bones and joints and knew there was something wrong with Gunner’s toe. X-rays showed it was broken and while Emmanuel accepts it may have been an accident, he was upset that ‘nobody would admit to it, nobody would own up to it, nobody wanted to know about it’.

Another time Emmanuel noticed a problem with Gunner’s ear. The doctor told him Gunner had cauliflower ear which is caused by blunt force trauma. The doctor said ‘there’s only one way you get that … this is what boxers get when they’re boxed around the head’.

Emmanuel made a formal complaint about the coordinator but the provider refused to take action. He escalated his complaint to the state disability department and the directors of the board of the disability service provider, but ‘it was just like walking into a brick wall’.

Ultimately Emmanuel engaged a lawyer and spent around $12,000 trying to hold the coordinator and the provider to account.

But when the provider threatened to withdraw Gunner’s accommodation Emmanuel dropped the legal action.

During this period, some staff did speak up and complained about the abuse, swearing and yelling. The provider responded by transferring all staff to other homes.

Not long after, Emmanuel had to obtain medical guardianship of Gunner to prevent the provider from inserting a feeding tube directly in Gunner’s stomach. Gunner needed his food to be prepared and he needed to be fed but he had no problem eating. Emmanuel successfully argued a feeding tube wasn’t necessary.

Then when Gunner’s grandmother was visiting she noticed he was fed exactly the same thing every day for lunch and dinner. Emmanuel investigated and discovered she was right – Gunner ate exactly the same food, blended into a mush, every lunch and dinner.

It took ‘two years and a hell of a lot of arguments … to get a menu book put in place’. Emmanuel also managed to get Gunner’s meals separated so he could see and taste the different food he was eating.

Emmanuel then discovered the food was being served cold and he had to show staff how to heat it properly in the microwave. He said it took him three months to implement the procedure.

‘I started visiting [Gunner] every day. I’d go every lunch time and every dinner time and make sure they were feeding him right.’

Recently, when Emmanuel arrived at the home, support workers were changing Gunner’s pad on the lounge room floor. He was lying there naked on the floor while female support workers walked in and out of the room.

‘That was a real shock to me,’ Emmanuel said.

The support worker apologised and was dismissed. Emmanuel is concerned about what happens in the house when he’s not there.

‘These houses need cameras in them.’