Family 'slurred as abusers' after helping to expose sex predator scandal in Queensland government aged care facility

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The family of Nancy Lennox spoke out after an ABC investigation revealed a five-year cover-up of her alleged sexual abuse by a worker in a Queensland government aged care home. Weeks after the story, staff called police alleging Mrs Lennox had also been abused by her husband and son — allegations the family says are false and are a reprisal for speaking out to the media. The federal government has introduced new whistleblower protections for aged care residents and their families who speak out about alleged mistreatment.

Transcript

00:00It began in 2021 when the family of Nancy Lennox, who's a resident of a state government

00:08aged care facility called Eventide in the central Queensland town of Rockhampton, her

00:13family were brought in and told that she had been allegedly abused by one of their own

00:20aged care workers. The issue with that was the allegations had been raised five years

00:25earlier and never reported to police. So the family was shocked to learn this. Nancy Lennox

00:31has no way of speaking out for herself. She has an acquired brain injury and she cannot

00:37speak or walk. The family was very shocked by this. I started investigating this case.

00:45I approached them and I also uncovered the fact that the aged care employee had gone

00:52on to abuse another vulnerable resident with an impairment of the mind and was convicted

00:59and given a suspended jail sentence a few years before that. So I reported this issue

01:05in early 2021. After our story, staff came forward from the facility and accused Nancy

01:13Lennox's husband of both historical domestic violence and of allegedly sexually abusing

01:21her within the home. He found himself under police investigation. Her son, Mark Lennox,

01:31was also questioned by police over Nancy being found with a black eye that was reported by

01:39the home. Now, this family say that they were extremely distressed already from hearing

01:47that their loved one had been allegedly abused by an aged care worker. So that distress was

01:53obviously intensified by these allegations, very serious allegations made against them,

02:00effectively of abuse. So they were accused of being abusers. Now, years later, it's become

02:06clear that there was no evidence supporting these allegations. These allegations have

02:12not been substantiated by police. The family says they were falsely accused in reprisal

02:18for speaking out in the media about the home zone failure to protect its residents from

02:23a predator within its own ranks. The family has been backed by a federal MP, Michelle

02:29Landry, who wrote to the state government saying that Trevor and Mark Lennox had been

02:34slurred by staff as abusers and were the target of an ongoing campaign of discrimination.

02:42For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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