Josh and Regina
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.
Regina is a primary school teacher in a regional town, and mother to two children with disability. She told the Royal Commission about her son, Josh.
Until recently, Josh was attending a local high school in the autism unit. He is a teenager, but Regina said he has the mental age of an eight-year-old.
To get to school, Josh was placed on a ‘run’ with assisted school transport. The transport picked Josh up from a location that Regina drove him to, then travelled a long route to collect all the other students and go to school.
The reverse was occurring on the way home from school. Josh was exhausted by the time he got home each evening, spending so much time in transport. Regina complained to the school about the situation for six months, but nothing was done until the grandparent of another child in a similar situation also complained.
Then Josh was placed on a run with a student from the autism unit named Tegan. ‘To cut a very long story short,’ said Regina, ‘[Tegan] began grooming my son.’
Tegan performed oral sex on Josh in the transport vehicle. Regina understands ‘that some teenagers get up to all sorts of things when left unsupervised’, but cannot accept that the driver of the sedan didn’t know what was going on.
Regina believes the driver is still working for the transport service and is still driving other vulnerable children to and from school each day.
When she became suspicious about what Tegan was doing to Josh, Regina insisted that if they must be in the same transport, one must sit in the front and the other in the back.
But then Tegan made ‘her own homemade pornography’ which she gave to Josh in the transport. This was with a different driver, but with the same transport service. This made Regina fearful that the drivers were actually filming the sexual acts, or possibly even involved in the acts themselves.
‘The very nature of all of this makes me sick to my stomach. My son is a vulnerable boy who has been abused and taken advantage of while I trusted that he was simply being transported to school. I am a working parent and needed to utilise a transport service to ensure my son was at school each day and brought back to me in one piece … [Josh] is extremely distressed by the situation and my entire family has been rocked by what has occurred and no-one has been held to account over any of it!’
Learning of the situation, the school principal arranged a meeting between Regina, the welfare head teacher and the head teacher of the autism unit. This led to the local police viewing the USB with the pornography Tegan had given to Josh.
‘A child wellbeing report was generated, but nothing else happened!’ Regina said.
Tegan continued to attend the autism unit, so Regina removed Josh from the school and enrolled him elsewhere. Tegan, however, has continued to contact Josh by email. Regina is concerned because Tegan ‘has exhibited predatory behaviour and still has access to other vulnerable males in her class’.
Regina says she reported the matter to the regional director of education. She sent a letter numerous times, but never received a response.
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.