Despite urgent pleas from agencies on the island, asylum seeker was not reunited with her mother and brother until four months after she was flown to Brisbane for medical treatment

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, and his department stalled on urgent requests from the family of a rape victim to be allowed to join her in a Brisbane hospital despite recommendations from Australian Border Force officials, the government of Nauru, Save the Children, and health experts and security staff, leaked documents reveal.



The young female asylum seeker was attacked and sexually assaulted while on a day outing from the Nauru detention centre in May 2015. The Nauru files, and further documents leaked to the Guardian, reveal how the upper levels of government responded to her ordeal and the struggle of her family to support her.

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In the aftermath of the attack her mental health declined and she stopped eating and attempted suicide. In August she was medically evacuated to Brisbane after doctors feared kidney failure.

At the time her brother and mother publicly and privately pleaded to be allowed to join her. Agencies and authorities on the island agreed they should.

“All stakeholders support the transfer of [the family] to Australia,” concluded the minutes of a meeting on 3 September 2015 between IHMS mental health (the health providers on the island), the Australian Border Force (ABF), Save the Children, Wilson Security and Nauru officials.

Border Force said it could not act without the permission of the Department of immigration and Border Protection. There was a direct and personal appeal to Dutton. The minutes of a later meeting on 11 October state that an immigration official followed up on the request to the minister.

“In relation to the letter that was sent to the minister’s office on the 30/9/15. [The officer] advised ... that no reply had yet been received from ABF.”

Despite unanimous and repeated recommendations it was not until January 2016 that the family were reunited.

The attack

The first official reference to the attack is a short information report by a Transfield client services officer, just before 6.30pm in May 2015. It said the officer had been informed the woman had not returned to camp by curfew.

The incident was classified as an “abscond” and designated a “major” risk. The typed report said the control room, managed by Wilson Security, had been informed and the asylum seeker’s phone had been called continuously, with no answer.

“Security have spoken to her brother and he advises that this is out of character,” the contact log said.

The Nauruan police were informed at 6.50pm and given a photo of the woman, and a search was conducted, according to handwritten notes and a contact log attached to the Transfield report.

Calls were made to Command 2, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), Nauruan government centre managers, and the Save the Children operations manager. Control was unable to reach Transfield operations or welfare, or International Health and Medical Services, the healthcare provider on the island. A text message was sent the following morning to IHMS.

There is no logged report of her return to the camp, after she was found by police shortly after 9pm, badly beaten and alleging a sexual assault. Her interaction with police and return to the centre did not classify as a reportable incident, so the ordeal is first described in a second contact log.

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The officers took her to the police station. While her brother and mother sat waiting for information which no one would give them, caseworkers and an interpreter went to assist at the station. She did not get to the hospital until after 11pm.

About half an hour later Control calledDIBP, which the log noted was “aware of incident” and provided it with updated information.

The aftermath

By that afternoon news of the attack had begun to spread throughout the camp.

Another incident report, later downgraded by Wilson Security from “minor” to “information”, described a female detainee asking about “a girl in OPC3”.

A Save the Children caseworker said the detainee “stated she had been told by a Nauruan security officer that an asylum seeker ‘has been kidnapped and raped by Nauruan men last night’.

“[REDACTED, the caseworker] replied to her that he is unaware of what happened last night and she should not pay too much attention to rumours.”

Calls for transfer

Soon after the attack the woman’s mental health conspicuously deteriorated. Her case was discussed at a regular gathering called the vulnerable adults meeting, by which time she had been moved to another part of the camp.

She was under constant protective welfare watch, and her family would visit when she was ready to receive them, according to the meeting’s minutes. Concerns about her brother were also discussed.

“The [caseworker] believes that there is no future for [REDACTED] and her family in Nauru and that they should be transferred to Australia,” the minutes record.

Further meetings in June and July reveal her declining health and a shared opinion that the family could not return to the main accommodation area. Caseworkers sought to find “clarity around future planning” for the family, “eg transfer to Australia”.

IHMS and Save the Children escalated their recommendations for transfer. There was no recorded response from the immigration department.

The documents also noted that the Nauruan police force had not showed up to a scheduled meeting with the woman. “[Australian Border Force] advised that the NPF are no longer planning on meeting with [REDACTED] to discuss the case further reporting that there is no additional evidence in the case,” they said.

A week later police did meet with the woman and Border Force. The asylum seeker said she believed she could identify her attacker and was told she would get the opportunity. An appointment with a sketch artist was later cancelled on her behalf.

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In mid July the woman’s brother and mother both self-harmed. The next week client service officers discovered the woman breathing heavily and crying, after self-harming. They called a code blue – the name given to emergencies.

“CSO [REDACTED] arrived on site to assist as [REDACTED] became unresponsive and began to vomit. CSO [REDACTED] then felt it necessary to move [REDACTED] to IHMS immediately,” read the incident report.

“On arrival to IHMS [REDACTED] stood up and walked out to the rear door kicking and screaming. As [REDACTED] became very aggressive and in order to prevent any harm to herself or others CSO [REDACTED] lightly restrained her.”

The report said the woman soon became compliant and the restraints were released. She was moved to the holding bay for observation.

At the same time her brother was in the waiting area of IHMS and a CSO was sent to check on him. “He seemed to be calm and unaware of the code in progress,” the CSO said.

But then the sound of his sister screaming came from the direction of the ambulance bay, and he ran towards the gate, another CSO reported. The officer observed another CSO intercept him and the pair applied “approved restraints” to his arms.

“At this time [REDACTED] was extremely aggressive and non-compliant and due to this and [his] history of self-harm as well as the heavy vehicle movement in the immediate vicinity, the responding CSOs held concern for [his] safety.”

The young man continued to be “aggressive” and “verbally non-compliant”, the CSO wrote. He eventually calmed down and the restraints were removed.

A later document noted he was taken to the police station but charges were dropped. While in the cell some local men urinated on him from outside the cell, he later alleged.

Both siblings were placed on high welfare watch.

About two weeks later the sister asked a caseworker for a pen and notebook. An incident report, designated “major” for “actual or threatened self-harm”, said she wrote on one page then tore out and handed it to the Wilson Security employee. It did not say what the note said.

The next day she was seen using her finger to write on the hand of a nurse.

“We could not tell what was written/signed at the time. We overheard the nurse say we will not let that happen,” a Wilson Security officer reported.

Meeting minutes from July show clear recommendations from IHMS to have the woman transferred to Australia for treatment, adding that “all stakeholders agreed that [REDACTED] should be accompanied by her mother and brother”.

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“ABF on island have escalated IHMS’s recommendations to medical transfer [REDACTED] to Australia for treatment. Awaiting response.”

The response finally came in early August, when the Australian government announced a new official policy to end all medical transfers to Australia.

“The direction of this case has changed in that transfer to Australia is no longer an option,” caseworkers noted.

IHMS withdrew their request for transfer, now deciding the woman could could receive “therapeutic intervention” in Nauru.

Sent to Australia, family held back

But then within weeks the asylum seeker became seriously ill and doctors were concerned about liver failure. She was medically evacuated on 20 August. That same day the department told the Senate inquiry the transfer had been approved immediately after a request was made by IHMS the previous day. There was no mention of the earlier requests.

According to the documents, on the day the woman was evacuated her family was told they would follow her three days later, on 23 August. But on 22 August Save the Children were advised this would not happen. Her brother was allegedly denied any information about her condition.

Minutes from a stakeholders’ meeting on 3 September reveal a concerted effort to have the brother and mother transferred to Australia to be with her.

“IHMS mental health continue to express concern for the wellbeing of the family. IHMS believe it is clinically important for the family to be together to ensure recovery as bringing [REDACTED] back to Nauru and a deteriorated family doesn’t make sense,” wrote the IHMS representative.

A Border Force employee wrote: “An email was sent to [a representative of the DIBP] last Friday with the recommendation for [the family] to join [REDACTED] – no response has been received.”

A representative of the Nauruan government added: “A further email was sent to [Border Force] on the evening of 02.09.15 requesting that the family be sent to Australia.”

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The meeting concluded with all stakeholders agreeing that the family should be reunited “as a matter of priority” and “all stakeholders support the transfer of [the brother and mother] to Australia”.

Border Force on the island was awaiting direction from Canberra regarding any transfer, it said.

Another document, from a September vulnerable adults meeting, noted: “No correspondence has been received from the secretary and deputy commissioner of ABF. [An immigration official] has drafted a letter to the minister of immigration, Peter Dutton. [A Save the Children director] will be reviewing the letter prior to it being sent. The letter highlights the freedom of advocacy and requests for immediate response in relation to family reunification.”

The letter was sent to the minister’s office a few days later, to no response. Dutton’s office still hadn’t responded by 11 October, a meeting held on that date heard.

The family were reunited in January and remain in mainland detention in Australia.



Dutton’s office was contacted for comment but did not respond.

• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Hotlines in other countries can be found here