A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl was raped and then flogged when she was late for dinner at a NSW foster home for Aboriginal children, an national inquiry has heard.
THE girl's story is one of six being told at a royal commission hearing into events at the Bethcar Children's Home in Brewarrina in remote northern NSW more than 20 years ago.
The state-funded home was run by Burt and Edith Gordon and their son-in-law Colin Gibson from 1969 to 1989.
The girl raped by Gibson, who was jailed in 2007 on two separate sentences of 12 years and 18 years for offences against a number of girls, was placed in Bethcar when she was two or three.
The abuse began soon after. The girl, given the pseudonym AIQ for legal reasons, told no-one until she was in her late 30s.
No case was taken against Gordon, who was old and unwell at the time of the investigation. He has since died.
Other children who went to police and NSW welfare officers with allegations of abuse were returned to the home where they were beaten, the commission heard.
As the hearing got underway in Sydney on Wednesday, the commission was told the state of NSW had for years resisted accepting liability for any abuse and disputed for four years that it had occurred - even after Gibson was jailed.
When 13 former residents came forward in 2008 to sue the state, the Crown Solicitor's office employed solicitor Evangelos Manollaras and junior counsel Patrick Saidi to handle the case.
Counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd, said Mr Manollaras doubted the abuse had happened and at one stage wrote "... in fact, I'm having some difficulty in having understanding how a jury convicted Gibson".
There were years of delay and legal tactics. Mr Saidi was highly critical of the Women's Legal Service, which was supporting some victims, the inquiry was told.
Mr Lloyd also said that when the plaintiffs requested an acknowledgement and a modest amount of money Mr Mallollaras expressed the view that "firstly I don't ever recall the state apologising for anything, secondly as to the sexual assaults, I have a very strong doubt that anything occurred at all in most cases".
In one email Mr Manollaras raised the "possibility of undertaking some surveillance" on at least some of the plaintiffs and suggested an initial compensation budget of $20,000-$30,000.
The case was settled at the beginning of 2014, with each plaintiff getting $107,142 with the state to pay legal costs.
The state had spent almost $1 million defending it.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues.
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