Young boys gang-raped become predators
22.01.2007

POLICE in the remote indigenous community of Kowanyama on Cape York have interviewed eight pre-teen and teenage boys after reports from doctors that very young boys had been raped by the group, with most of the alleged perpetrators themselves having been victims of sexual assault in the past.
Documents obtained by The Australian show that a meeting on January 9 of the Queensland Government's Cape York Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) team heard that in late December a six-year-old boy was taken by his grandmother to Kowanyama police after he told her he had been sexually assaulted.
This latest report of sexual assaults on children in indigenous communities follows exclusive reports by The Australian last month of a 10-year-old girl in neighbouring Aurukun being gang-raped by nine adults and teenagers, who subsequently pleaded guilty but escaped jail terms.
The disclosure yesterday of the Kowanyama case has enraged local hero and criminologist Tania Major -- the current Young Australian of the Year.
``The truth is that these remote communities have for years just been incubators for crime and corruption. There is no law and order, and all the councils or adults want to talk about is the alcohol management or supplies of more grog,'' Ms Major said.
``If they had such passion for the education or care of their children, it would be a different world for the little ones.''
The Kowanyama boy said he had been raped by his nine-year-old cousin, and he was subsequently examined by doctors. The boy had previously been raped by older boys, and his grandmother, who is his carer, reported that on two occasions he returned home late at night, distressed, and without his underpants and shirt.
A pediatrician who examined the boy two weeks ago reported that he had been sexually assaulted ``at least once by his own disclosures, and almost certainly serially'', adding that he would continue to be abused if returned to Kowanyama.
The specialist wrote that the boy's grandmother had not demonstrated she was a responsible carer and was not capable of providing the level of supervision the boy needed to prevent further sexual assaults.
``(The victim) needs to be protected from further abuse and have therapy in an attempt to prevent him continuing the cycle of abusing other young children,'' her report said.
The Cairns-based doctor added in her report that she had refused a direction from the Department of Child Safety to return the boy to Kowanyama.
``If this information had been given to a different person and not queried, it is possible they would have complied with this, placing (the boy) back in the identical scenario that allowed this last assault to occur,'' she wrote in her advice to the SCAN team.
The grandmother told police the child's mother and her two sisters did not care for their children and spent five nights a week drinking at the canteen, and the days sleeping.
In a separate incident, The Australian has learnt the visiting Royal Flying Doctor Service last month diagnosed another seven-year-old boy in Kowanyama with chlamydia.
The Department of Child Safety was immediately notified that the child had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. However, despite three weeks elapsing, police have not been notified by the department and the boy still lives in the community.
International outrage was sparked last year by the revelation that Cairns-based judge Sarah Bradley allowed the teenage rapists of the 10-year-old Aurukun girl to escape having a conviction recorded against them, while the adult rapists received only suspended sentences.
It was revealed that the department had been informed the child had been raped and had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, but Cairns-based officials refused police requests to remove her from Aurukun. She was subsequently raped again before being taken from the community.
Speaking in Cairns yesterday, Ms Major said she went home to Kowanyama for Christmas with her family, but spent the whole week ``bawling my eyes out''.
``I am just so sick of it all -- hearing stories like this all the time where sexual attack victims become the predators -- it is just the predictable cycle,'' she said.
``I sat with a group of young guys aged 18 or so and ... they were sick of more and more programs on drug and alcohol control. I felt like I was just a successful bitch, a traitor to my people. Something needs to be done. It is true that I just bawled my eyes out for the whole week -- just seeing the dysfunction, seeing the whole new culture that is centred on alcohol.
``We really do need a welfare reform agenda -- that is the only way people will be held accountable. And now the kids are raping each other. Where is rock-bottom for Kowanyama?''
The serial assaults on young boys and girls in Kowanyama were first reported by then resident Royal Flying Doctor medico Lara Wieland who, in March 2003, handed a 10-page letter to John Howard and then premier Peter Beattie outlining the issues.
Her letter said child sexual abuse and neglect were out of control and that the majority of her young female patients had been sexually abused.
``I have had many patients as young as five and six test positive for STDs such as chlamydia,'' she wrote.
``There are grandmothers who tell me that on `drinking nights' they lock themselves in the bedroom with their grandchildren to protect them from being raped. Another person told me that on the drinking nights, they could hear a grandma down the road yell `get off of those kids'.
``I have made multiple reports of abuse about children over months that have been ignored and nothing has happened. When a child discloses sexual abuse to me, I no longer promise to make it stop as that makes me a liar.
``There was a six-year-old boy to whom I made that promise and he was put back in the same unsupervised situation, and had contacted chlamydia.''
Dr Wieland yesterday told The Australian that that child was one of those now accused of being involved in the rapes of other young boys on Kowanyama.
The Queensland Health Department sacked Dr Wieland for reporting her concerns to the prime minister.