A corrections officer stands accused of sexually assaulting a female inmate at a regional New South Wales prison months after a major inquiry into another guard’s abuse delivered scathing findings.
The man was charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of engaging in a relationship with an inmate, causing a safety risk, police said on Friday.
He was arrested on Thursday morning by detectives from NSW police’s Corrective Services Investigation Unit, which set up a strike force to investigate allegations that an inmate had been sexually assaulted.
The assaults allegedly happened at a correctional centre at Wellington, near Dubbo, between 18 June and 30 July, though police did not receive a report until the start of August.
The man was taken to Wellington police station, where he was charged and refused bail. He was expected to appear at the Dubbo local court on Friday.
The charges follow a government-ordered inquiry into the circumstances surrounding a series of rapes and indecent assaults committed by another corrections officer, Wayne Astill.
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The ex-prison guard was sentenced in March 2023 to a maximum of 23 years’ jail for crimes against nine women while working as an officer at the Dillwynia Correctional Centre in Sydney’s west.
The subsequent independent inquiry highlighted multiple failures within the prisons system, including missed red flags that should have stopped Astill ever being employed as a corrections officer, in findings handed down in March.
The state’s corrections minister, Anoulack Chanthivong, has previously said a taskforce would be established to rectify issues relating to prison safety canvassed during the inquiry.
