The asylum seeker, who suffered horrific injuries, says Australia and the security firm failed in their duty of care

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

An asylum seeker who suffered horrific injuries during the unrest inside the Manus detention centre in February is taking legal action against the Australian government and the security firm G4S for alleged failures in their duty of care.



The man, who lost his right eye, says he was hit in the face with a rock during the violence and is currently detained in Villawood detention centre in Sydney after being moved out of Papua New Guinea following the unrest.



Named only as RN, the man in his mid-30s, filed legal proceedings with the supreme court in Victoria on Tuesday.



“I was inside when the attack started. I went outside to see what was happening. When I went outside, I was hit in the right eye with a rock. I knew straight away that my eye had been badly damaged,” RN said in a statement through his lawyers, Maurice Blackburn.



“I got back to my room. I heard gunshots and screaming. I hid under the bed in fear and heard people being dragged from their rooms. When the noise eased, I came out from under the bed to seek medical attention, but I was dizzy and fainted on the floor.

RN has filed legal proceedings with the supreme court in Victoria. Photograph: Maurice Blackburn

“I have not felt very good, either physically or mentally, since I was brought to Villawood. I feel dizzy constantly and the conditions here are very noisy and crowded. Psychologically I can’t last in this place.”

Jane McDermott, RN’s lawyer, told reporters in Melbourne RN recalled being struck by “someone wearing a uniform”.

“It’s his recollection that it was someone wearing a stripe, a magnetic stripe,” McDermott said.



Shortly after the unrest numerous reports implicated locally employed G4S guards and other local contractors in the violence. A week after the unrest, Guardian Australia reported extracts of the official incident report into the violence, which observed that G4S managers “lost control” of locally employed security staff during the violence.



McDermott said that RN was suffering post-traumatic stress and depression following the violence.



“Our client has suffered enormously, both physically and psychologically, because of what we say is the failure of the commonwealth and G4S to provide a safe and secure environment for people at the Manus Island detention centre,” she said.



Maurice Blackburn is urging the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, to release RN into community detention where they say he will receive better medical care.



The case is scheduled for a directions hearing in September and McDermott told Guardian Australia she hoped RN’s action would encourage other asylum seekers injured during the violence, which left 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati dead, to bring further legal claims.



McDermott said her client was not principally concerned with damage payments. “It’s not really about the money,” she said. “He would give anything just to have his eye back and be in the situation he was in but for this incident.”



According to the memorandum of understanding between Papua New Guinea and Australia, the PNG Immigration Department administers the detention centre on Manus. But a Senate inquiry into the violence heard repeated evidence that the Australian Immigration Department ultimately ran the centre, alongside the contracted managers G4S.



McDermott told Guardian Australia she would argue that the commonwealth ultimately held a non-delegable duty of care to asylum seekers detained on Manus.



G4S has been contacted for a response.

