Yulia and Janette
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.
‘My mother is now probably at the stage where she won't remember me, her husband or her grandson. We’ve lost three years of my mother's time.’
Yulia is in her 80s and has Alzheimer’s disease. She lives with her son, who has ‘cut her off’ her from the rest of the family, her eldest daughter Janette told the Royal Commission.
‘She's isolated. She doesn't see her sister, she’s not seeing her family. She doesn't see anyone. Her own husband of 63 years … My mother's been entrapped.’
Janette described her brother as a jobless ‘long-term drug abuser’ who is ‘mentally unstable’. He and another sister, her paid carer, are ‘financially abusing’ Yulia.
Yulia and her husband had been ‘travelling back and forth’ to their homeland for a decade. When she fell ill a few years ago, her husband returned only to be ‘denied access to see his wife’.
Janette said her brother ‘coerced’ her mother into giving him enduring power of attorney.
‘And all of a sudden, we're in this situation where we find out that my sister and brother are stealing from her … They changed locks, we cannot access my mother. My mother was in a very vulnerable situation, because he had withdrawn money out of her account. My sister did the same.’
Janette said her brother ‘violently threatened’ her and her family. Her father was terrified he would ‘sell the house’ and ‘throw [her] mother’ out.
‘This has left both my parents in a very, very volatile situation financially.’
The brother was ‘physically attacking’ her and her family and ‘making death threats’. ‘The police charged him – we had an AVO against him for two years.’
Because of this, Yulia is living in a ‘negative environment’.
‘She's got dementia. She cannot make informed decisions, and she's influenced by comments around her.’
The brother and sister are being ‘intentionally cruel’ to her.
‘They tell her every day that nobody loves her, nobody wants to see her. That’s a form of emotional and mental abuse. They tell her I don't love her, they tell her that I'm going to burn her … It’s a traumatic experience.’
Despite that, the public guardian refuses to remove Yulia from her brother and put her in respite care.
Janette said she’s ‘been blocked’.
‘The guardians have refused access, the trustees have blocked emails and correspondence. I've had 18 applications before the tribunal.’
The office keeps saying ‘give us evidence’, but Janette says they’ve seen plenty.
‘They see the evidence that they're exploiting her. They have built up an $8,000 Mastercard debt on their own personal things. I also presented affidavits from friends, saying she cries when she wants to see us. She wants to get out of the house because they're totally controlling her.’
Janette doesn’t understand why ‘a government body’ doesn’t investigate, and instead leaves her mother ‘in an isolated environment with her two abusers’.
‘I thought the duties of the public guardian is to ensure that these two people are caring for my mother.’
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.