At least 13 former detainees of the ACT's youth justice system between 2003 and 2013 allege that a guard named Brett Dennis sexually abused them. Four of those men have spoken to Guardian Australia, giving eerily similar accounts despite their experiences being separated by years and occurring at different centres. They allege they were not believed, were dismissed or had no way of disclosing their abuse at the time.
Allegations of abuse at the chicken shed
James, a young Indigenous man who spent 22 months locked up in Quamby before the facility was shut down by the Australian Capital Territory due to human rights concerns, says Dennis would take boys to an old chicken shed at the centre, out past the classrooms and out of sight of security cameras. 'He'd only take one at a time down to the chicken shed,' James says. 'That's where he'd sexually assault me, and I'm pretty sure he'd been doing it to other boys but it went on for ages.'
James was 14 when he was first incarcerated in Quamby in the early 2000s. His upbringing was marred by domestic violence and he was in and out of foster care, before he began dabbling in drugs and alcohol, and stealing cars. He is speaking to Guardian Australia via a video link from a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre – his attempts to blunt the trauma have billowed into a lifelong struggle with addiction, substance abuse and suicide attempts. He still has nightmares, 20 years later.
Legal proceedings and government response
James is one of 22 plaintiffs to have lodged civil proceedings alleging historical sexual abuse by staff and by fellow detainees at the Quamby or Bimberi youth detention centres, now before the courts, with the ACT government named as a defendant. The territory's government is also responding to 31 personal injury claims related to historical child sexual abuse allegations, which are at the pre-court stage.
Court documents reveal that Dennis held a series of short-term rolling contracts with the ACT government as a youth justice officer before he was made a permanent employee in August 2006, and continued working in the system until about 2015. The ACT government, in a statement to Guardian Australia, said it was not aware of any allegations of child abuse made against Dennis before his death from suicide in 2017.
Survivors' accounts and legal challenges
David met Dennis on one of his first nights incarcerated as a teen in the Quamby centre. 'He gave me my first hit [of ice],' he says. In documents filed in 2025 with the ACT supreme court, David alleges he was sexually abused by Dennis on several occasions, supplied with and encouraged to use methamphetamines, and raped five times. He alleges that the ACT government breached its duty of care to protect him from abuse, failed to implement a 'safe system of care' for a vulnerable child, knew or ought to have known about the general risk of abuse of detainees within its institutions, and should have taken precautions to avoid the risk of harm.
Michael met Dennis when he was locked up for one night at the age of 16. Over the course of that night he alleges he was sexually abused and raped. 'He took me down to the chicken shed,' Michael says. 'I thought it was normal. I really was only a kid. It fucked everything. It changed my whole life. I don't trust anyone.' Michael has filed a claim against the ACT government. In its response, it confirmed that Michael had been held for approximately 14 hours on the day of the alleged rape but denied any knowledge or admittance of the allegations of abuse.
Lawyer alleges stonewalling
Kirsten Nasser, from the legal firm Maliganis Edwards Johnson, is a solicitor and personal injury lawyer who has handled hundreds of civil compensation claims over more than a decade, specialising in cases alleging institutional abuse. Her firm represents 30 clients who allege they were mistreated or abused while in ACT youth detention. Its lawyers claim that the territory government has been withholding critical personal records and stonewalling their clients' civil cases. 'That's why there's been such a delay in the proceedings that we have on foot at the moment,' Nasser says. 'They're taking 12 to 18 months or two years to get us records that relate to our clients. I've worked for clients who've experienced institutional sexual abuse from religious organisations such as the Catholic church and the ACT government's response is worse.'
Some former guards have come forward to Nasser with statements that corroborate survivors' stories of physical and sexual abuse, she says, including alleging that incident reports or internal memos were suppressed or altered when concerns were raised internally. A 2011 inquiry into the Bimberi facility – established in 2008 after an audit found widespread human rights concerns including the use of inappropriate force and excessive strip-searches at Quamby – found that there had been flawed record-keeping and there was evidence of records being altered, including the deletion of records of 'significant disturbances'.
Brian was 12 when he was first locked up at Bimberi in 2008. He was jailed again in 2013. In documents filed with the ACT supreme court, he alleges that Dennis sexually abused him on multiple occasions. Now 30, Brian says the abuse destroyed his life and he turned to drugs and alcohol. 'Drugs took over my life,' he says. 'I see his name everywhere. He's got the name Chicken, I'll see KFC and it's chicken. I can't escape it.'
An ACT government spokesperson said it 'recognises that historical allegations can involve complex trauma and acknowledges the significant impact that revisiting past experiences may have on individuals'. The spokesperson added that the ACT funded a range of 'trauma-informed counselling, mental health and victim support services that may be available to eligible individuals' and that as the defendant to these claims, it was 'also responsive to requests from claimants or plaintiffs for counselling or psychological sessions to be funded at the outset of such processes in recognition of the benefit such services can provide, and the complex trauma involved'.
Nasser says her clients just want recognition. 'They just want their moment of someone coming along and saying: I'm sorry, we're taking this seriously. We acknowledge that wrongs were done to you, and this is how we're moving forward.'
