‘It makes me feel sick’
Inquiry hears of mum’s anguish at treatment
AT JUST 11 years old, Lillian* already had a tough start to life – suffering cerebral palsy, quadriplegia and being nonverbal.
But things were about to get even worse under the care of the Launceston General Hospital – and the now notorious serial child sexual abuser, nurse James Geoffrey Griffin.
On Tuesday, Lillian’s mother, Angela*, gave evidence on day two of a commission of inquiry into the Tasmanian government’s responses to child sexual abuse in institutional settings.
Tearfully, she shared the traumatic story of what happened to her vulnerable daughter just four years ago in 2018 under the care of a nurse she knew only as “Jimbo”.
Angela said Lillian relied on hand gestures and other devices to communicate, but she agreed that on the inside she was a “vibrant person” and was more than able to think for herself.
But she said her daughter was left crying, screaming, distressed and with ongoing separation anxiety since her admission to Launceston General
Hospital for concerns relating to a previous hip operation.
Angela said the hospital wasn’t ready for their arrival, with no systems to help Lillian communicate.
She said her daughter developed sepsis and started acting strangely around “Jimbo”.
“It makes me feel sick and horrible and angry,” Angela said.
“I’ve never seen her that distressed before and that’s why it was so strange.
“Something wasn’t right, she wasn’t comfortable and she wanted to come home.”
Angela noticed signs of abuse, which she raised with Griffin, and said he inappropriately touched her daughter in front of her.
“Things got worse,” Angela told the commissioners.
“I turned up the next day and she was screaming in her bed, she was sweating. All the blinds were pulled down.”
She said doctors wouldn’t listen to hear her concerns that something had happened to her daughter – and instead, staff “all shrugged it off”. Angela said the hospital had still taken no action in response to her complaints.
“That’s why I called child safety, because I didn’t know who else to call,” she said.
“(The hospital staff) called me at one stage, ‘the girl with the ugg boots’. That’s how they treated me, because I’m a single parent.”
In a bid to keep Griffin away from Lillian, Angela instructed hospital staff that no males were to change her daughter.
“I just asked her if that man was bad and she said yes,” she said.
About a year after Lillian left the hospital, Angela said she read about Griffin in the media.
“I didn’t know his name so it was a big shock. Everything we assumed happened, happened, if not worse,” she said.
“I feel like I failed (Lillian).” Griffin, 69, died by suicide in 2019 after he was charged with child sexual abuse offences. *Names changed to protect identities.
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