Leena and Monique
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.
‘While in their care, she was exposed to, indecently assaulted and sexually assaulted twice, by a student who was known by school and Departmental Executive, to put others at risk.’
Leena has an intellectual disability and in the mid-2010s attended a learning support unit at the local high school. Monique, her mother, thought Leena would be safe there. She told the Royal Commission she had been wrong.
Halfway through year 8 Leena was indecently assaulted by two boys in class. Joseph and Quaid were sitting either side of Leena watching pornography on a computer, touching Leena inappropriately and making her touch them.
It was not the teacher or the aide, but another student who intervened, removing Leena from the situation by taking her to the assistant principal’s office.
The assistant principal advised Monique to report the incident to the police, saying ‘they’d been after [Joseph] for some time’. Joseph had a history of this behaviour and had sexually assaulted another girl in Leena’s class.
Leena reported the incident to the police and the boys were suspended.
It was only at this point that the truth started to unfold – that Joseph had been sexually assaulting Leena since year 7.
Joseph ‘befriended’ Leena when she first started at the school. One day when she was looking for a friend in the playground Joseph exposed his penis to her. He told her ‘if she touched it he would tell her where her friend was’.
Leena reported the incident to a staff member. Monique remembered being called to pick Leena up from school and finding her ‘inconsolable, hiding behind furniture, unable to verbalise the cause of her distress’. Staff knew what had caused this distress, but no-one told Monique. She wouldn’t find out what had happened until more than a year later.
Not long after this incident Joseph took Leena to a highly visible area within the gated grounds of the support unit. Monique told us, ‘He hit her on the head, pushed her down, pulled her pants down and raped her. When he was finished he called her a whore and told her he would kill her if she told anyone’.
Leena didn’t tell anyone, but Joseph told some of the boys what he had done. Some of the boys told their parents and at least one parent told the school.
Again, the school failed to notify Leena’s parents. They remained in the dark.
Joseph escalated his behaviour. He took her off the school grounds to a block of toilets at a nearby park. He removed her clothes and raped her. Monique only found out about this following her report to the police about the incident in the classroom in year 8.
Monique feels devastated Leena wasn’t able to tell her about these incidents at the time. She suspects she didn’t have the language or words.
Joseph was found guilty of multiple counts of indecent exposure and sexual assault and remains incarcerated.
While he didn’t return to the school after the suspension in year 8, Quaid did.
Seeing Quaid at school increased Leena’s anxiety and distress. The school suggested she restrict her movements at lunch and not use the playground because Quaid needed ‘to run around’.
When Monique complained, they set up a girl’s area outside the gates. But this area was unsupervised and Quaid was allowed to play soccer nearby.
During a mandatory safety awareness program given to the students in the unit, Leena told a teacher she felt unsafe with Quaid in the class. She was told ‘to be strong and pretend he’s not there’.
Then, without informing Monique, the school brought Leena and Quaid together in the playground. A teacher rang Monique with ‘the good news’ Leena had ‘made the adult decision to forgive [Quaid] so they can move on and be friends’.
Monique and her husband were outraged. Leena did not want to be Quaid’s friend. Leena’s counsellor was also concerned about this intervention and the damage the school continued to inflict on Leena.
Monique removed Leena from the school.
Determined to ensure what happened to Leena would not happen to anyone else, Monique pressed the department and school for a full review. Ultimately she had to involve her local member of parliament to make it happen.
‘I hold the Department of Education responsible for the assaults on my daughter. I hold them responsible for their lack of sense and sensitivity in their treatment of her as a victim and the ongoing trauma this has caused her.’
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.