Child safety chief ‘sorry’
THE head of Tasmania’s Child Safety Service has apologised to the family of Zoe Duncan for the agency not believing she was sexually abused by a Launceston General Hospital doctor and for failing to protect Tiffany Skeggs from predator James Griffin.
On Monday, executive director Claire Lovell told the child sexual abuse commission of inquiry the agency made mistakes dealing with both cases. Zoe’s family reported her sexual assault to the Launceston General Hospital when it happened in 2001, but the hospital failed to report it to the agency for nine days.
The commission heard the agency then took nearly four months to complete an investigation and did not report the matter on to Tasmania Police.
Ms Lovell said while there was no standard time frame for completing an assessment, the 11-year-old’s allegation should have been reported to police immediately.
She agreed it was inappropriate to subject Zoe to numerous interviews and it was wrong the agency considered her evidence “contaminated” because her account had changed.
“She increased the details of what happened to her, but she never contradicted herself. Do you think it was a fair assessment that she was not a credible witness in that context?” counsel assisting the commission, Maree Norton, asked. “No,” Ms Lovell replied. Ms Norton noted Dr Tim* said he didn’t want to know the nature of Zoe’s allegations.
“Ultimately, Dr Tim’s* denial of allegations, which he ultimately didn’t have particulars of because he didn’t want them, was preferred over Ms Duncan’s clear and consistent disclosures,” she said.
Ms Lovell, who did not work in her role at the time, said it must have been the policy of the agency to investigate allegations before referring them to Tasmania Police – but this was no longer the case.
She said there was “certainly enough” by today’s standards to find Zoe had been abused. She agreed her agency should have reached out to the Duncan family.
“It appears to me that Zoe Duncan was sexually abused and this investigation didn’t substantiate that,” she said.
“That’s a very poor outcome for that family, for Zoe and her family and for that I’m extremely sorry that was their experience.”
Ms Duncan passed away from epilepsy in 2017 at age 28.
Ms Lovell also apologised to abuse survivor Tiffany Skeggs for the agency’s failure to protect her from James Geoffrey Griffin – given it was notified about what was happening to her as far back as 2013.
The commission heard the agency spoke to Griffin at the time, telling him there had been an “over-reaction to his behaviours”, his actions had been “misinterpreted” and “he ought to be more careful in future”.
“I was very, very moved by Ms Skeggs’ statement. I found it incredibly brave,” Ms Lovell said.
“We should have protected Ms Skeggs and we didn’t protect her and for that it’s hard to find words to say how sorry I am. I’m deeply sorry.”
* Name changed