Young girl allegedly sexually assaulted

A 12-year-old girl was allegedly forced to perform sex acts on an after school care worker who has since fled the country.

The victim’s mother is now calling for faster police action after the man moved to Australia in wake of the allegations.

On July 21 the mother received a phone call from Youthtown, a nationwide youth development organisation, saying there had been an incident involving inappropriate texts between a youth worker and her daughter, she said.

A family member of the alleged offender said the man did not want to comment.

She said there was no truth to the allegations and the investigation was over.

The alleged offending happened while the young girl was in after-school care at Youthtown in Panmure.

The morning after the mother was contacted, her daughter disclosed more information to her parents and police were called. ‘‘We were really numb,’’ she said. ‘‘He was forcing her to give him oral sex and forcing her to masturbate him.

‘‘That’s when my heart sank. It was quite gut-wrenching.’’

Messages, pictures and videos were found on the girl’s phone of the man performing sex acts, the mother said.

The mother said the youth worker ‘‘groomed’’ and ‘‘manipulated’’ her daughter.

‘‘That's when my heart sank. It was quite gutwrenching.’’

Despite reporting it to police, the alleged offender fled the country, she said.

‘‘The police have let us down when we found out he had gone to Australia.’’ Police would not comment. Youthtown works with 5 to 18-year-olds and employs about 120 permanent staff and 300 casual staff.

Youthtown chief executive Paula Kearns said police were investigating ‘‘allegations’’ against a former staff member.

Kearns said Youthtown was co-operating with police and was sorry the situation had arisen.

‘‘We care about all our participants and their families and we have been working with the family to support them at this time.’’

Kearns said an internal investigation had taken place and it had made changes to its policies and procedures in light of the allegations.

‘‘Of course we have taken this very seriously,’’ Kearns said.

Kearns confirmed the youth worker was no longer with the organisation.

All staff underwent background checks and were police vetted before starting employment, Kearns said.