In 2011, Kylee Pearn told the Launceston General Hospital that there was a child abuser working in the hospital's children's ward.
She knew the nurse was a paedophile, because years earlier, she had been abused by him.
"I just knew I had to do something... I felt he was a risk on that ward," she said.
But Tasmania's Commission of Inquiry into Government Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard that her complaint went nowhere.
James Geoffrey Griffin continued to work on Ward 4K for another eight years, racking up more and more complaints until he was finally charged by police.
WARNING: This article contains content that some readers may find distressing.
Kylee Pearn had known James Griffin since she was four years old — he was a family friend.
She told the inquiry, which is holding hearings in Launceston, that he started sexually abusing her when she was about seven years old, and that continued on a regular basis for a number of years.
Her coping mechanism had been to lock away the abuse; it was something that had happened, but it was not who she was, and she doesn't like to label herself a victim-survivor.
As an adult, Ms Pearn worked as a social worker in family violence support, and then in 2011 she began a secondment at the Launceston General Hospital (LGH), working on the same floor as Griffin.
"I would see him coming and going and ran into him a few times," Ms Pearn told the inquiry.
"It was incredibly confronting, and on a couple of occasions he approached me and kissed me on the cheek."
Despite her coping mechanism of locking away what had happened, Ms Pearn told the commission that two events that year made her feel the need to report Griffin.
Firstly, a chance conversation with a friend who revealed she too had been abused by Griffin.
"That was a very big realisation for me, that I wasn't the only one," Ms Pearn said. "Because that's something I'd told myself for a long time, it was probably just me."
Then, Ms Pearn's own child had to spend a night on Ward 4K.
James Griffin was working, and she was too petrified to leave her child alone.
"It wasn't just about me, it was about my profession, being a social worker, being a mum, wanting to protect other kids on that ward."
She told her manager, Stewart Millar, about her abuse and they arranged a meeting with the hospital's Human Resources department.
"I felt he was a risk of abusing other children."
Ms Pearn hoped he would be removed from the children's ward.
'He'll make too much of a fuss'
Ms Pearn said she couldn't fully remember which representative or representatives from HR attended the meeting, but believed it was likely Gino Fratangelo and maybe James Bellinger, and they seemed to have "come prepared".
Ms Pearn said she told HR that Griffin had sexually abused her and her friend, and that she believed he was a risk on Ward 4K.
"They said things like 'we have looked into him … he has been on the ward too long'.
"They said things like 'he will make too much of a fuss if we move him', they told me he was an ANMF (Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation) member or rep," she told the inquiry.
Ms Pearn said she got the strong sense that the responsibility was back on her, and that the hospital wouldn't do anything about Griffin unless she got a conviction or put her name to her complaint.
"I thought I had given them information that they would take seriously and act on.
"There was no follow-up whatsoever … I don't believe it was taken seriously."
No explanation for lack of action
In later evidence, Ms Pearn's manager, Stewart Millar, told the inquiry that he was almost certain that two HR representatives had been at the meeting and that they were James Bellinger and Gino Fratangelo.
The inquiry heard that Mr Fratangelo did not recall being at the meeting.
Mr Bellinger gave evidence later in the day that he did not work at the hospital until 2012, did not recall attending the meeting, and did not believe it was possible that he did.
He told the inquiry that he learned about Ms Pearn's report in 2019, and the fact there had been no action taken.
Counsel assisting Elizabeth Bennett asked him if he had taken any proactive steps at that point to make the hospital safer.
Mr Bellinger said he had not, and that he could not explain why.
Ms Pearn said she and her friend spoke to police but did not go through with trying to have Griffin charged, partly because of fear on her part and because she was unsure of the likelihood of a conviction.
'I felt fobbed off' by Peter Renshaw
In 2019, Kylee Pearn started hearing rumours that other people were coming forward about Griffin, and went to Tasmania Police.
"I wanted to stop him and keep other children safe, as well as support another person who had come forward."
She said the police process and the detective she dealt with were "fabulous", but her subsequent dealings with the National Redress Scheme were not trauma-informed and involved "horrendous" questioning.
Around the same time, Ms Pearn said Griffin's abuse was starting to gather media attention, and she decided to tell the hospital's director of clinical services, Dr Peter Renshaw, about her 2011 disclosure to the hospital's HR team.
"I didn't get any concern from him, I felt quite fobbed off."
Ms Pearn said she had a phone conversation with the then Health Minister Sarah Courtney, who "appeared concerned", and Tasmania's Commission of Inquiry was announced the next day.
Griffin was charged with offences relating to Kylee Pearn, and others, in 2019.
He was bailed and died by suicide that year before he could be tried.
Ms Pearn told the inquiry that the most difficult things for her had been what came after the abuse and police process — dealing with multiple government departments, requesting information, the loss of control of her own information and the constant media reporting and use of images of Griffin.
Ms Pearn resigned from the state service last year.
"There was information coming out about the way staff had been treated and I wasn't proud to be a state servant anymore, "she said.
Nurse tried to keep Griffin away from young girls
The inquiry also heard from Maria Unwin, a registered nurse who was senior to Griffin on the children's ward.
She said Griffin had a "strong preference to care for teenage girls", and he would do unusual things like touch patients on the arm and call them "sweetie".
Ms Unwin said she raised her concerns with the nursing unit manager, but the manager's only response was that "everyone has something to offer".
From then on, Ms Unwin said she tried to allocate teenage female patients to other nurses.
In 2019, Ms Unwin said one of her former colleagues contacted her to tell her about the allegations surrounding Griffin.
"I was horrified," she told the inquiry.
Ms Unwin told the inquiry she believed there was a culture in the hospital of not taking complaints seriously.
When asked where she believed that culture was coming from, she said she was aware that "Peter Renshaw has a role in handling complaints and legal issues that occur in the hospital and … I had been told by a number of colleagues that he can be quite dismissive and deflective of complaints that are brought before him."
She said she had not had that level of interaction with Dr Renshaw herself.
Dr Renshaw is expected to give evidence later this week.
