31 Aug 2015

Guards at Nauru centre reportedly use cable tie on boy

10:38 am on 31 August 2015

Four Wilson Security guards at Australia's asylum seeker detention centre on Nauru reportedly used a cable tie to handcuff an eight-year-old boy as a joke.

The Guardian reports that the 2013 incident report contradicts the testimony of Wilson Security bosses, who told a Senate inquiry last week that the use of restraints was very rare.

Protesting refugees at the asylum seeker processing centre on Nauru.

Protesting refugees at the asylum seeker processing centre on Nauru. Photo: Supplied

The report says a Save the Children worker noticed four Wilson officers tying the boy's hands together in 2013, and was told by the smiling officers that it was a joke and "maybe now he'll stop fighting" before he was released.

Save the Children had identified the child as vulnerable because of a history of trauma in his home country and significant developmental issues that had manifested as behavioural problems.

The Guardian reports the boy was also later the victim of a reported sexual assault while in detention on Nauru.

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