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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Sarah Collard Indigenous affairs correspondent

‘He’d take boys down to the chicken shed’: survivors share harrowing allegations of rape in Canberra youth detention

Australian Capital Territory Chicken sexual assault Guardian Australia Canberra Child Abuse Sexual Abuse
A single feather glows in a shaft of golden light against a dark background
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. Illustration: Dylan Finney/The Guardian

There was an old chicken shed at the Quamby youth detention centre. Out past the classrooms and out of sight of the facility’s many security cameras, it was a place most detainees avoided.

But they knew what sometimes happened down there.

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