RAPED BY FSG STAFFER
AN FSG employee was jailed in September 2015 for raping an intellectually disabled girl aged in her 20s inside an FSG house two years earlier. Less than 18 months later, in July 2017, a Royal Commission found FSG CEO Vicki Batten “showed an unwillingness to accept that sexual abuse could arise at FSG at all”.
EXPLOSIVE court documents have shown an FSG employee was jailed in September 2015 for raping an intellectually disabled girl in her 20s inside an FSG house two years earlier.
Less than 18 months later, in July 2017, a Royal Commission found FSG CEO Vicki Batten “showed an unwillingness to accept that sexual abuse could arise at FSG at all”.
On September 25, 2015, Paul Nuzum, a carer for FSG, was jailed for raping an intellectually disabled girl inside an FSG house in 2013.
Less than 18 months later, in July 2017, and in response to a Royal Commission finding that the disabled charity FSG had failed to investigate two counts of sexual abuse on disabled children, Ms Batten said: “I am abhorred by abuse at any level in our community, and actively advocate the protection of vulnerable people every single day, in every way that I can.
“As the current CEO of FSG, it would be irresponsible and immoral, if I believed that any of my workers were abusing people in their charge.”
FSG provided disability services to vulnerable members of the community until it entered administration June 30.
The child sexual abuse cases presented to the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse occurred in 1995 and 2000 and did not involve Mr Nuzum.
Mr Nuzum’s case was not raised at the commission.
Ms Batten told the commission in 2016 she was not connected to FSG in 1995, when the first case was alleged to have occurred, and had not been with the company for long in 2000 when the second matter was said to have occurred.
By the time Mr Nuzum was convicted, she had been with the company for more than 15 years and was the CEO and a member of the board.
In 2017, the child sexual abuse commissioners Justice Jennifer Coate and Mr Robert Fitzgerald AM found: “Ms Batten showed an unwillingness to accept that sexual abuse could arise at FSG at all.’’
Ms Batten has not responded to Bulletin requests for comment.
At that time, FSG employee Paul Nuzum had already been sentenced in the Southport District Court to four years jail for raping an intellectually disabled girl who was under his care.
He was released after 12 months.
Monica (last name withheld) is the mother of the girl Mr Nuzum raped.
The single mother told the Bulletin she and her daughter Emma (not her real name) had lived a difficult life but as a result their bond was strong.
Despite the daughter being aged in her 20s, a psychiatrist found Emma had a mental age of between four and five years old.
However, Monica said Emma shared a child-like love with her boyfriend, FSG housing client Ben (not his real name).
The two had been dating for years, spending time at the FSG house, and according to Monica, wouldn’t let their disabilities get in the way of a true romance.
“It was sort of magical, it made me a little bit envious seeing that bond they were forming,” Monica said. “That early love, that butterfly feeling. It was so cute.
“Eventually they wanted to step it up and have a sleepover but it was all innocent. They were waiting on marriage. It was both their decisions.
“It makes me teary thinking about it.”
Monica described FSG staff at the house making it difficult for Ben and Emma to be together.
“It was like Emma and Ben being together felt dirty to them,” she said.
“That was how they made us feel, like a couple with disabilities was gross.”
At this time, Monica was diagnosed with a heart problem but then Mr Nuzum came to the rescue. Monica had known him for years and trusted him.
“Paul, who we’d known from the start, he stepped up and said he was happy to work the weekends Emma was with Ben and he was just so nice and supportive,” she said.
“He always made out he was on our side, not FSG’s side.
“He would say that it was Emma’s right to stay over and see her boyfriend, and she should be coming over, especially since I was sick.
“But of course I know now it was simply to have Emma over there. There is no doubt in my mind.”
For about six months, Monica noticed her usually bubbly daughter became reserved, isolated and depressed.
She stopped showering and Monica would say quite simply, she became dirty.
A psychiatrist would later explain this was a primal instinct, making herself unappealing so she would be left alone.
One day, Emma broke and made an accusation against Mr Nuzum.
“On a Sunday morning I got a call from the team leader and he said ‘Look, Emma’s made an accusation against Paul, you’d better come over’,” Monica said.
“All the carers seemed quite frustrated.
“I think they thought she was making it up.
“I told them all to leave and I sat down with Emma, looked her in the eye and said what happened.”
Monica bravely described the moment her daughter told her Mr Nuzum had placed his penis inside her mouth. She said her jaw hurt and that she thought she was going to choke. She said he urinated in her mouth, naive to any other alternative.
In a frenzy, Monica had the foresight to bag up Emma’s clothes and took them to police.
It meant she had irrefutable proof.