A South Australian family have told of their fear after receiving an anonymous letter warning their nephew would be “abused with cruelty, violence, regularly and repeatedly” and might be poisoned or drowned at his supported disability accommodation.
The disability royal commission is continuing to investigate violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in disability services in a week-long session in Adelaide.
It heard on Monday that South Australian authorities failed to properly investigate the threats against Mitchell, who is 38 years old and lives with an intellectual disability.
He resides in supported accommodation in one of several adjoining units operated by the state’s Department of Human Services.
His aunt and uncle, Victoria and James, told the royal commission they had raised some concerns about the level of care he was receiving in 2017.
On 3 March 2018, a letter was sent to their home address that made a series of threats against Mitchell.
The letter, which Victoria read to the commission, noted that the site manager of the facility had been removed and it claimed staff were opposed to her departure, meaning they were “angry and pissed off, which now puts your nephew at risk”.
It said: “Food... poison. Medication... wrong. Shampoo... what’s in the bottle? Acid. Bruises... how did that happen? …
“Going out... falling down stairs. How well does he swim? Locked up? Food withheld. Going through the windscreen... seatbelt unclipped.
“This little piglet is going to be abused with cruelty, violence, regularly and repeatedly.”
Victoria and James raised the letter with the department and filed a police report.
“Obviously, you know, we were just completely shocked with what had happened,” Victoria told the hearing on Monday.
“Our whole family was, because obviously we made everybody aware of this. We all agreed that none of us felt that it was his core team of support workers that would do such a thing and we felt that because of that … we could actually stay calm, work through this, while investigations were taking place.”
Assured that “a significant investigation was being undertaken”, the couple sought updates from the department but said they tried not to interfere.
However, as time went on they became increasingly worried the case was not being taken seriously and subsequently had their fears confirmed by a state-appointed advocate.
SA’s principal community visitor, Maurice Corcoran, told the couple in October he had met with a key department official who “confirmed that his unit did not investigate nor interview staff regarding the threatening letter”.
Corcoran wrote: “So I remain concerned that this was never properly investigated by either the police or the [department] and I have stated this in my annual report, which will be tabled in parliament this coming Thursday.”
The couple told the royal commission they felt let down by authorities.
“We felt that any organisation that was worth its salt would take a letter like this and look inwardly at its culture,” James said. “What sort of culture was breeding this, that somebody felt at liberty to send this to somebody’s house? Those people knew where we lived, they knew where our children lived.”
Victoria said that in hindsight the couple now felt they should have gone to the media.
“You know, raised as much noise about this as we possibly could’ve, but we genuinely believed that we were acting professionally and in the best interests of everybody to let the government do the right thing,” she said.
A state ombudsman’s report this year found the Department of Human Services “failed to properly investigate the letter and its failures were unreasonable”.
In March, the department reopened its investigation into the letter, which concluded after a month without identifying its author.
The department wrote to the couple in March that month informing them of the outcome.
The inquiry was told it was the first correspondence they had received from the department, more than three years after the threats against Mitchell had been received.
Victoria became emotional as she spoke of how the fear they had for their nephew’s safety had been an “extremely heavy burden”.
“I am so pleased that I can now today release this burden from me because it genuinely has been so difficult to hold on to it,” she said.
The department will appear at the hearing this week.
The inquiry continues.
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