A female inmate who was sexually assaulted by a prison officer at a Sydney jail was terrified of the ramifications if she came forward while still behind bars, an inquiry has been told.
Former guard Wayne Gregory Astill was sentenced to 23 years in prison after he was last year convicted of 34 charges, including aggravated sexual assault and indecent assault.
Astill sexually assaulted several women while working as an officer at Dillwynia Correctional Centre in northwestern Sydney.
The NSW government launched a special commission of inquiry into Astill’s offending that is being overseen by former judge Peter McClellan KC.
Trudy Sheiles on Tuesday told the inquiry that she was housed at Dillwynia from November 2015 onwards.
Ms Sheiles said Astill had a reputation as being “quite inappropriate” and she was told that she should “keep my distance”.
Ms Sheiles told the inquiry that Astill would have her “retrieved” from her unit.
“You came to find out the purpose of having you retrieved … was for him to take you to an office and sexually abuse you?” Counsel assisting the inquiry David Lloyd SC asked.
“That is correct,” Ms Sheiles said.
She said Astill earnt the name “Teflon Sam” because “nothing sticks” to him and there was a feeling he was “untouchable”.
In her statement to the inquiry, the woman said she had been told by Astill: “You know I am high up, I’ll send you to Wello, and you’ll be stomped on the head.”
“He knew that I’d been placed in the protection unit because I’d been bashed and assaulted at Silverwater,” Ms Sheiles said.
“And he said he knew the girls who did it and that if I did not comply and keep my mouth shut he would send me to Wello and organise the girls to stomp on my head when I got there,” she said.
Ms Sheiles said she struggled to come forward or reach out to anyone because she believed that all her mail and phone calls were being monitored.
She said there was a culture of “green versus blue” within the prison and didn’t feel like she could trust other guards.
“Even I struggled and I had no intention of coming forward until I left the system because I was terrified of repercussions and that officers would make my time harder than it already was,” she said.
Ms Sheiles eventually came forward after making disclosures to a guard, who she referred to as her “guardian angel”, she told the inquiry on Tuesday.
The inquiry’s terms of reference include whether any other employee of Corrective Services NSW had knowledge or suspicion of the offending and what steps they took, the systems of supervision and oversight that applied to Astill, the adequacy of oversight mechanisms and how they should be improved, and whether any matters arising from the inquiry should be referred to law enforcement or other agencies.
The inquiry was on Tuesday read an institutional apology to Astill’s victims on behalf of the Commissioner of Corrective Services.
“This special commissioner of inquiry is essential to ensure what took place at Dillwynia Correctional Centre never happens again so that the public can have confidence that Corrective Services NSW continues to serve the public by helping to rehabilitate people and in doing so making their communities safer places to live,” the statement said.
“Correctives Services apologises sincerely and unreservedly to the survivors of Mr Astill for the abuse they have suffered. They are entitled to be protected and cared for in a place where they felt safe and secure.”
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