A SOCIAL worker who said he was knifed in a horrific gang attack has confessed that he invented the story and stabbed himself.

But the Herald Sun can reveal Daniel Mallia's elaborate lie was hidden from his employer, to protect his privacy.

His boss has called for privacy laws to be rewritten, saying they had put his clients' safety and his organisation's reputation at risk.

Mallia worked with at-risk teens for Les Twentyman's 20th Man Foundation.

Last July he made headlines when he recounted his "fight for life", claiming he was stabbed twice in the stomach and repeatedly punched and kicked by up to five gang members at Altona beach.

The trained boxer and martial artist said he was robbed.

One stab wound penetrated 8cm into his gut, just missing vital organs, he said.

"I had a knife to my neck. I couldn't yell out, or else they would have cut my throat," he said.

But on December 13, the heavily tattooed Mallia, 29, pleaded guilty in Sunshine Magistrates' Court to making a false report.



He faked the whole story, stabbing himself and giving himself black eyes.



Mr Twentyman said already growing doubts about Mallia's performance had led to his termination in October.



But he was not told by police until a week after Mallia's court appearance that his story was a lie and his injuries self-inflicted.



"Police said they couldn't tell us earlier because of restrictions on passing on information under privacy laws,'' he said.



Mr Twentyman said the safety of his clients and the reputation of the fund had been put at risk by privacy laws that let the man continue working with vulnerable people, even after admitting his self-destructive behaviour.



"He was a ticking time bomb, and we would have sacked him on the spot if we had known, instead of becoming more and more distressed about his inability to do his job.



"He told a friend: `I don't really feel worthy until I've been stabbed like Les'.''



Mr Twentyman called for the creation of a privacy reference panel, to which police or other authorities could refer cases of concern.



Such a panel could determine if, in the interests of public safety, information should be provided to relevant people such employers, family members, or the wider public, as can happen in the case of communicable diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.



Mr Twentyman said Mallia was hired about a month before he stabbed himself on the strength of an impressive CV, including a valedictorian award at Victoria University.



Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said it was ridiculous that Mallia had been free to keep working after admitting to such dangerous behaviour.



Mr Twentyman said police told him Mallia had said he staged the stabbing after crashing his car and losing his phone.



Mallia is being considered for a diversion program, which allows first offenders to escape conviction if they admit their crime.



Mark Woods, of the Law Institute of Victoria's access to justice committee, said some employers whose employees were subject to licensing systems - such as those working with children or in security - were notified under certain circumstances if workers were charged.



Mallia could not be contacted yesterday.



WHAT PRIVACY LAWS PREVENT



PARENTS accessing their children's Facebook accounts.



SUPERANNUATION funds from accessing tax file numbers so they can find lost members.



LORD Mayor Robert Doyle's plan to record the ID of passengers who catch cabs at city super ranks at night.



RACING Victoria stewards demanding jockeys hand over mobile phones.



AUTHORITIES using GPS data to locate a child rapist wearing an electronic ankle bracelet who left the so-called village of the damned outside the Ararat jail.



THE Taxi Directorate from telling the public about a cabbie who had killed, and another who played pornography and smoked marijuana while driving, are back driving cabs.



THE Department of Justice from revealing the offences of 2700 criminals - including stalkers, kidnappers and drug traffickers - whose applications to work with children have been granted.



PARLIAMENT naming the State MPs who had unpaid bills for meals, drinks and functions totalling more than $102,000 or those who commit driving offences in their taxpayer-funded cars.



Originally published as Social worker stabs himself to gain street cred