A royal commission has heard a carer at Sydney residential facility for disabled people was charged with assault over his treatment of a blind and autistic man.

May 24, 2021

A supervisor at a NSW residential care home for disabled people was charged with assault, stalking and intimidation over his treatment of a blind and autistic man, an inquiry has heard.

The same carer was also accused of sexual misconduct towards a teenage girl in another facility and supervisory neglect after allegedly falsifying a client’s medication chart.

The royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability is hearing evidence on Monday from National Disability Insurance Scheme participants living in residential care facilities.

The examination of NDIS providers has heard about the experiences of people living in a group home run by Sunnyfield Disability Services in western Sydney.

Counsel assisting Kate Eastman told the commissioners an independent investigation was launched into incidents in the house after the disabled man, 24, suffered a serious eye injury and was taken to hospital in 2019.

It followed allegations that the same worker assaulted and verbally abused the blind man while on an excursion from the home, and kicked another resident leading to a police charge.

“A boiling frog scenario appears to have occurred at the house … A protectionist approach has occurred towards staff,” she said, reading internal communication between senior staff at the not-for-profit charity.

The residents’ high level of disabilities and associated behaviour potentially hid what was actually happening in the house, the document said.

Regional managers were found to be naive and “distracted by seemingly endless NDIS administration”.

“The house coordinator has been very good at covering up and deceitful in his behaviour,” Ms Eastman said, quoting the document.

The investigation found residents’ families lacked trust in the facility and that staff lacked understanding about reporting and “what constituted abuse, assault and neglect”.

Staff also felt bullied by the coordinator, who segregated them by ethnicity.

He also refused to meet with crisis intervention trainers and wanted to use restraints on clients, another current resident’s family member told the inquiry.

Ms Eastman said Sunnyfield’s human resources department didn’t follow up on complaints made about the coordinator and internal audits didn’t interview any staff other than him.

A 2018 investigation by the NSW Ombudsman found the coordinator had been accused of sexual misconduct towards a teenage girl in residential care at another facility in 2005 and supervisory neglect after allegedly falsifying another client’s medication chart.

The coordinator was dismissed by his then-employer in 2016 but the ombudsman’s office failed to notify Sunnyfield, where he had by then started working.

He was later sacked by Sunnyfield in 2019 and police later charged him with five counts of assault and two counts of stalking and intimidation over incidents at the group house involving the blind and autistic man.

He was also charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm after allegedly kicking another disabled man living in the same house.

But the charges were dismissed by a magistrate in 2020.

“A key question for this inquiry is how and why these events happened,” Ms Eastman said.

She said the commission would examine issues surrounding Sunnyfield’s operation of the group home and pre-employment screening and recruitment of support workers.

It will also look at the organisation’s management of family members concerns over their loved one’s treatment.

Sunnyfield is a 70-year-old not-for-profit charity providing support to about 1200 people in NSW and the ACT.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.