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WARNING: Distressing content.
In May 2020, two severely disabled young men — then believed to be teenagers — were found locked in a room of a squalid Brisbane home after the death of the father, whose body had been in another room for an unknown period of time.
This week, almost 1200 days later, the Queensland government admitted “this should never have happened” and apologised for their treatment.
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The shocking — and frankly, disgusting — lives of Kaleb*, 22, and Jonathon*, 20, have been laid in a report by the Royal Commission into disabilities that found the “violence, abuse, neglect and deprivation of human rights” they experienced at the hands of their father was “preventable”.
Moreover, the commission concluded state government departments and agencies “could and should have done more to prevent Kaleb and Jonathon from experiencing violence, abuse, neglect and the deprivation of their human rights”.
When police found Kaleb and Jonathan in the home in Brisbane’s north on May 27, 2020, they were locked in a room and naked.
The Queensland government has apologised over the treatment of two autistic boys. Credit: Supplied
Officers went to the house after a school Jonathan was attending could not reach his father by phone.
“Faeces were on the floor in the spare and main bedrooms,” the report said, citing police.
“Kaleb and Jonathon’s room was completely bare and doorhandles were removed … Paint appears to be removed from the walls. There are open nappies on the floor.”
Kaleb and Jonathon were taken to hospital for severe malnutrition. They remained in hospital for two weeks.
The two boys lived in squalid conditions in their Brisbane home. Credit: 7NEWS
The brothers were born in 2000 and 2003.
Their mother was not in their lives from 2005. She “had a history of interactions with child protection agencies relating to her other children”, the Royal Commission found.
“At the time of Kaleb’s birth, she lived with an intellectual impairment, anxiety and a depressive illness. At the time of Kaleb’s birth, his parents’ accommodation was ‘questionable and unstable’,” the report said.
Kaleb was diagnosed with “significant global developmental delay” before his second birthday, while Jonathan was assessed as having “global developmental delay with almost certain intellectual impairment” at the age of two.
Kaleb was also found to be autistic and non-verbal, while Jonathan was found not to display “an interest in talking” and “simply chooses not to talk”, according to a speech pathologist.
However, a teacher said Jonathan could “verbalise clearly about food and drink”.
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When they were teenagers, a woman moved next door to the family and showed “genuine care” for the boys, the commission said.
She told the inquiry that Kaleb “had a lot of potential”. He could communicate by “hand-tapping”, appeared to understand words and she reported seeing him “playing ball and socialising with her son”.
“Kaleb and Jonathon both loved her dog. Jonathon enjoyed a bubble machine she set up to blow bubbles across the fence. Kaleb loved chickens,” the report said.
She observed the boys’ father locking them in the rooms for an entire day, so she would “play relaxation music loudly so Kaleb and Jonathon could hear it. She would also whistle, and Jonathon would whistle back”.
She said when they were locked in their room, they could not access water, food or the toilet unless their father allowed them to.
The state of the boys’ house was considered as evidence by the Royal Commission. Credit: Supplied
She reported seeing Kaleb “slipping in faeces and urine” in his room.
She said their father was often “rough with them”, would shove and yell at them and call them names like “d***head” and “f***wit”.
“(She) also saw Kaleb and Jonathon’s father give them an open cold can of casserole to eat. On another occasion, he gave them raw sausages in a sealed packet. They were unable to open these,” the commissioners wrote.
The neighbour said the father drank alcohol every day and smoked marijuana “and I think some other things”.
She also observed that the father often rejected the help of service providers or kept them “at a distance”. He “only let people into the home whom he trusted”, she said.
A bathroom (left) in the house and the father’s room (right). Credit: Supplied
The report, based on details unearthed at public hearings in May, provided five recommendations. including an apology and compensation from the government, which should examine whether current policies and practices are sufficient to prevent the extent of human rights being deprived from children with disabilities.
Better training and resources for relevant government departments also form part of the recommendations to address the influence of unconscious and conscious bias, and how discrimination occurs towards children with a disability.
The state should also consider a review of whether or not the mandatory reporting by persons engaged in particular work — a provision of the Child Protection Act — should apply to all Queensland police officers.
Queensland Child Services Minister Craig Crawford conceded the brothers’ treatment was unacceptable and vowed the government would consider the recommendations.
“This should never have happened. This should not happen in our country, and it should not happen in our state,” Crawford said.
“We need to allow time as a government to go through the report, to be able to speak with all of those agencies.
“We need a deep dive by various government agencies on this one.”
* Not their real names
– With AAP
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