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The Death Theats Another John Oxley Outrage   Death threats latest detention centre outrage   By Bruce Grundy   FEMALE inmates of Brisbane’s infamous John Oxley Youth Detention Centre threatened to kill a 15-year-old girl in custody to stop her pressing charges against a staff member she said had raped her on an excursion from the centre.   The rape victim, now a 28-year-old woman, said she had received more than dozen death- threat letters and notes from a group of girls in the centre who were friendly with the man who had assaulted her.   The woman said the death threats were either passed to her directly by one of the girls in the group or by other residents acting on their behalf.   The notes and letters warned her she would be killed if she pressed charges against the man concerned and they made it clear she would not be safe anywhere.   Authorities in charge of the centre took the threats sufficiently seriously to release the girl some months before her sentence was due to be completed.   The excursion to Wivenhoe Dam took place in April 1991 – 15 months after the Goss Government abruptly closed down an unfinshed inquiry into the centre and shredded all the evidence it had taken.   The Independent Monthly is now aware that at least four girls at the centre were raped by male inmates or members of staff in the late 1980s and early 1990s – just before or just after the aborting of the Heiner Inquiry in January 1990.   The story of what had happened to the girl on the Wivenhoe Dam excursion was reported in the last edition of The Independent Monthly.   The victim said she had been taken by a group of staff with another girl and three boys   on an outing to the dam.   At the dam they had gone swimming and one of the male members of satff had raped her in the water.   Back at the centre she had told another resident what had happened to her and she had then been abused and later bashed by several girls.   She had then been warned by the girls not to press charges against the man.   One of the letters she received said her life would not be worth as much as “the hair on ....’s ass. No, not even that much”.   “You had better not show your face in Brisbane, no wait a minute, make that Queensland” the letter said.   The woman said she had lived in fear for years after the incident. On one occasion when she went to stay at a Brisbane shelter she saw one of the girls who had sent the letters.   Shortly after the girl had assaulted her at the shelter.   In a separate incident the woman said while she had been waiting for service in a Brisbane chemist shop, the man who had raped her had come into the shop.   He had approached her and had begun to assault her.   Staff in the shop had intevened and prevented a more serious incident from occurring.   The woman said her life had “self- destructed” after the rape incident.   She said when her allegations were raised with the man concerned, he resigned.   Three months later the Criminal Justice Commission was advised of the matter but said it could do nothing because the person had resigned.   The police also said they could not pursue the matter because the girl was not prepared to take the issue any further.   However, the woman says she is no longer afraid and wants to have the matter properly dealt with.   She says she is anxious to have her day in court. 1070 page visits Content Management Software 2008