A disability worker who allegedly threatened to poison, burn and potentially drown a vulnerable client while masking the abuse as an accident may still be employed in the system because police chose not to investigate the matter, a disability advocate says. Principal Community Visitor Maurice Corcoran made the startling claim in his 2017/18 Disability Services Annual Report, which has been tabled in State Parliament. The revelations have prompted Police Minister Corey Wingard to seek answers from Police Commissioner Grant Stevens. Mr Corcoran said the family of a young man with an intellectual disability, who was living at an unnamed SA-supported accommodation facility, had raised concerns about a menacing letter they allegedly received from a staff member at the care home. The letter was one of a number of allegations, including that the man was taken to a topless waitress restaurant. He said the letter was reportedly prompted by a mistaken belief that the family had complained about another staff member. “The family found a very disturbing and threatening letter that was left in their letterbox addressed to them and allegedly from a staff member who blamed them for the site manager being moved,” Mr Corcoran said. “The letter went on to state that ‘the staff who are affected by this are angry and pissed off, which puts your nephew at risk’. “It went further, detailing forms of harm that could be applied to the client while masked as an accident and included the following: Food … poison; medication … wrong; shampoo … what’s in the bottle — acid?; how well does he swim?; going through the windscreen … seatbelt unclipped.” Mr Corcoran said the letter finished with a “final chilling statement”. “(It read) ‘This little piglet is going to be abused with cruelty violence … regularly and repeatedly’,” he said. Mr Corcoran said, “as a social worker for over 30 years, this letter is one of the worst that I have seen in terms of the threats to abuse with cruelty and violence, and all because of some misconception that the family had complained about a staff member”. He immediately contacted the Department of Human Services’s critical incident team director, expressing concern for the young man and urging the director to accompany the family to a police station to report the incident. The service provider placed extra staff in the care house to ensure the client was safe. Mr Corcoran said neither the police nor the department investigated the matter, meaning the author could still be working with people with a disability. “I do need to express deep disappointment and concern that this incident was not investigated by police nor the department’s critical incident team,” he said.
