Incident reports show that Wilson Security bosses knew the alleged offender’s name and position, although Senate was later told there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to identify him

A guard who hit a five-year-old girl “so hard it lifted her off her feet and sent her crashing to the ground” at the Nauru detention centre was left at his post monitoring children, with the security firm on the island alleging it did not have enough information about the offender to investigate.

Official incident reports of the assault show that Wilson Security bosses knew the alleged offender’s name and position, corroborated by several witnesses.

A Wilson Security executive later told an Australian Senate committee there was “insufficient evidence to identify [the] staff member involved”.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection told the Guardian this week it has “sought further information from its service providers” over whether the guard at the centre of the assault allegation remains working with, or in proximity of, children.



The move comes in the wake of the Guardian’s publication of the Nauru files, including more than 2,000 incident reports of issues of concern on the detention centre, most involving children.



Former Save the Children workers say Nauru files 'just the tip of the iceberg' Read more

The incident report says that on the evening of 27 March 2014 Save the Children staff were setting up a recreation tent for the evening’s activities when a five-year-old asylum seeker girl was seen running through the tent, pursued by a Wilson Security guard. The guard was named in the report.



“[REDACTED] was still chasing her, running very fast, when he caught up to her he hit her in the back of her head with his left hand with force which made her fall to the ground hard,” it said.

“I then walked up to [REDACTED] and said ‘that is highly unacceptable, inappropriate and unprofessional to hit any child at all’. I then asked for his name and he replied ‘fuck you’. I asked again, he once again said ‘fuck you’. I followed him out and asked his partner his name and she gave me it with no hassle.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tobias Gunn witnessed an assault on a child while working for Save the Children on Nauru: ‘When I went to comfort her she started screaming. She was in survival mode.’ Photograph: Ben Doherty/The Guardian

Tobias Gunn was working for Save the Children alongside the worker who filed the incident report. He witnessed the assault.



Gunn said children regularly snuck into the closed recreation tent, which was only open certain hours each day, because it was the one place they could access toys.

He said he and his colleague had seen the guard chasing the girl. “With his left hand he hit her across the back of the head. It was very forceful – he hit her so hard it lifted her off her feet and sent her crashing to the ground.”

While Gunn’s colleague spoke to the guard about the assault and asked for his name, Gunn went to the girl, who was crying on the ground.

He was identified … by Wilson's own roster. If Wilson say they can’t ID him, then they don’t know who is in the camp Tobias Gunn

“I went to comfort the child, she was petrified. She was in the foetal position crying, and when I went to comfort her she started screaming. She was in survival mode.”

Gunn said the girl was bleeding from cuts to her elbows where she had hit the ground. He said he had spoken to and calmed the girl, helped her to her feet and taken her to another worker who knew her and took her for a medical check.

He said the guard had been identified by his own partner, and by the second-in-command of security of OPC3 – the detention centre’s family compound – who responded to reports of the assault.

As well, Gunn said, the guard was on a stationary post, so his identity was known from rosters and timesheets. As all staff have to be scanned in and out from their shifts, his identity could have been further confirmed.

“He was identified by the people who were working with him, in the incident report, and by Wilson’s own roster. If Wilson say they can’t ID him, then they don’t know who is in the camp.”

The specific assault on the young girl was raised in the Moss report into conditions on Nauru, which noted that the assault had also been referred to the Nauruan police force, but that the girl and her father had not been willing to provide any further information so the investigation had not proceeded.

Brief details about it were also revealed by a former Save the Children employee, Viktoria Vibhakar, during a Senate inquiry into allegations of abuse on Nauru.

Datablog: analysis of Nauru files highlights heavy toll on children Read more

Gunn said a culture of impunity had developed on Nauru because asylum seekers feared reprisals if they lodged complaints.

“It is a huge concern that incidents like this are not properly investigated because it means perpetrators will continue to have access to vulnerable women and children. As well, the broader implications are that assaults like this will be underreported because asylum seekers have no faith that these incidents will be investigated, and also because they fear retribution from offenders.”

Appearing before the Senate select committee inquiry into “conditions and circumstances” in the detention centre on Nauru on 19 May 2015, Wilson Security was asked to detail the allegations of child abuse that had been reported inside the centre.

Wilson, responded on 2 June, writing:

27/03/14 Allegation: Allegation that local security officer used excessive force with a minor Action: Investigation Status: Insufficient evidence to identify staff member involved

Wilson Security told the Guardian in response to the publication of the Nauru files that the information it provided to the Senate was complete and correct.

“Wilson Security takes the welfare and safety of the asylum seekers at the regional processing centres seriously,” it said.

“All allegations of inappropriate behaviour on Nauru by asylum seekers or staff are reported through a comprehensive information and incident reporting system, referred to the relevant stakeholders for action, and where appropriate referred to the relevant authorities.

“Many of the information and incident reports published today contain previously reported observations and allegations against a range of parties that have been investigated by the independent Moss review and the Senate inquiry; both of which Wilson Security fully cooperated with and, based on the information to hand, provided honest and accurate evidence.”