Alleged abuse victim’s father gives evidence at inquiry

A father who says his daughter was sexually assaulted at school by another student has given evidence at the Debelle Inquiry.

He is hoping his evidence will lead to massive changes in the Education Department’s future handling of cases.

He says his daughter has taken to harming herself, and has slammed the Education Department for not doing enough to help.

In 2010, then aged 11, the daughter reported she was sexually assaulted in a toilet by another student at a South Australian primary school.

“My daughter is terribly depressed, self harming… our daughter’s mental health is of grave, grave concern,” the father said.

The alleged attacker stayed at the school, forcing the girl’s parents to find her another.

The father says six sessions of counselling through the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services didn’t scratch the surface of his daughter’s mental health issues.

“We’re not getting any support from the Department, and haven’t for the best part of three years,” he said.

The Education Department says it approached the girl’s new school and enacted a care plan to monitor her.

The Government has been feeling the heat over school sex cases, with Education Minister Jennifer Rankine admitting on Friday that a youth worker passed through a flawed screening process before allegedly raping a 16-year-old student.