Renzo and Nathalie

Renzo is in his 30s and has ‘severe autism and developmental delay’.

‘He cannot speak and he cannot make any informed decisions of any significance in his life other than whether he chooses a certain piece of clothing or food,’ his mother Nathalie told the Royal Commission.

About 15 years ago, Renzo got state funding to move into supported living.

‘I didn’t want to move him out of home … We had in-home care and it worked very well,’ said Nathalie.

But the government forced him into a group home. If he didn’t go, his funding ‘would be in jeopardy.’

The family was promised a say in ‘the service provider … and the residents he would be sharing with’.

‘We never did. And that was the beginning of a really bad period,’ Nathalie said.

The government placed Renzo in a home with three others including a young woman.

‘And her particular disability and associated behaviours caused his to escalate further and further. Her outbursts were creating problems for him … So it was like feeding fire to fire.’

Nathalie said the staff used Renzo ‘as a tool to manage the female resident’.

‘My son is a very big young man … very strong. So she would attack him. He would then assault her’.

Management then tried to block the parents coming to visit unannounced, ‘because they had problems with their residents’.

Nathalie noticed her son losing a lot of weight. He was ‘fed like a dog’.

‘They would make a pile of food and leave it on a table all day. If he didn’t eat it, he wouldn’t get fed.’

All the residents were subject to abuse, she said, because the manager was ‘the most evil, despicable human being’. She stole furniture, food and other goods from residents, and was trying to run the house on minimal staff.

Once she ordered a support worker to ‘tackle’ Renzo to the ground ‘to teach him a lesson’. She also managed him through medication, increasing his dosage ‘to the point where he was a zombie’.

‘And she tried the same thing with all the residents … To have their medication increased so they'd be tired and pliant … I think that's called chemical restraint now.’

One afternoon, Nathalie made ‘a surprise visit’. It was a very hot day and her son and the female resident were in the house by themselves with no air-conditioning.

‘They'd just come back from their day program. There wasn't any food or drink anywhere. The staff were nowhere to be found … I walked into my son's room and found a filthy cup that he'd been using to get water. And I also at that point noted that there was dried faeces smeared over the wall and over the towel rack.’

Nathalie found the manager and staff in the air-conditioned staffroom. Soon after she complained, the provider replaced the manager.

Later, Renzo got ‘a catastrophic’ spinal injury at the home and ‘was so distressed, he would almost rip doors off from pain’. The staff member who was working with him had already caused similar injuries to another resident, Nathalie said.

‘So why not put cameras in? Because my son can't meet the burden of proof to finger the guy who hurt him. But we know that he was hurt. Surely there must be different ways that people who are non-verbal, with disabilities, can have some justice and feel safe.’

When he recovered sufficiently, the government made Renzo go back to the home, but it was ‘hell on earth for him’. After five years there, Nathalie fought to get him out and Renzo has lived at home ever since.

‘I don’t want him to ever go to a hellish situation like that. I will never trust anybody again with him.’