Was Giraldi Abuse Cover-Up Ordered By Peter Caruana? Former Social Services team leader backs Hernandez shock disclosures
In a scathing attack on the Social Services Agency, a former senior member of its management team claimed this week that his attempts to investigate "serious allegations made against several members of staff by a number of residents" of the Dr Giraldi Home were blocked by the then Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, who claimed that he was acting on instructions from a higher level of authority than that of the Social Services Minister. And though Duncan Jones, one of the most highly qualified members of the Agency staff at the time, does not name names, his allegations of official attempts to silence him point a finger of blame for the cover-up directly at the Chief Minister for the first time in the current GHA /Social Services debacle.
Jones this week also damned as "untrue" recent claims by the Agency that it has always acted swiftly and responsibly whenever allegations of neglect or abuse have been made. And his decision to go public with his allegations not only support many of those made by whistle-blower Joanna Hernandez but strengthen the need for a full-scale and open inquiry into these and other serious allegations.
In January four years ago Jones - highly praised by professionals who had dealings with him when he had overall responsibility for a range of activities in the Agency, including the running of the Giraldi Home - resigned in protest at the attempts to gag him. The manager of the home at the time, Moraj Jacks, resigned at the same time and was replaced by Joanna Hernandez whose "whistle blowing" led to her dismissal.
Allegations which have surfaced as a result of the latter's attempts to have an Industrial Tribunal hear her claim for wrongful dismissal have led to widespread calls for a public inquiry into the running of the Agency and the allegations of mismanagement, sexual abuse and loose control of drugs contained in affidavits and witness statements that Hernandez and her representative at the Tribunal Opposition leader Joe Bossano have collected.
Can of worms "Duncan Jones's decision to come out publicly and tell the truth is the best Christmas present I could have," Hernandez told VOX yesterday. "In a sense it means that I am no longer fighting this on my own, as I have been doing ever since I went on post at Giraldi and uncovered the can of worms and wrong-doing that existed there and in parts of the Agency service.
"But where Duncan and Moraj Jacks resigned in protest, I decided to stay on and fight. Somebody had to."
Jones was one of the witnesses that Hernandez had asked Tribunal chairman Isaac Massias to subpoena as a witness at her hearing - and was one of the many whom Massias refused to call during a session in which he remarked that the Agency was not on trial. (He also refused to allow the subpoena of Yvette del Agua, who was Minister for Social Services at the time of Hernandez's dismissal, on the grounds that she no longer held that portfolio.)
Hernandez now intends to call Jones as a voluntary witness at the full hearing of her Tribunal case in April.
This week Jones wrote to VOX, Panorama and the Chronicle to refute the Agency's claim to have investigated all allegations. His letter made clear that he had been told on the highest authority to keep silent about his own concerns. He wrote:
I am the former Team Leader, Adult Services, Social Services Agency, and held overall management responsibility for the Social Work Service for Adults, the Probation Service and the Day and Residential Services for People with Disabilities, including the Dr. Giraldi Home, until I resigned from this post in January 2004.
I am writing regarding the Press Release issued by the Government of Gibraltar, Ministry of Family, Youth and Community Affairs, dated 12 December 2007 (No. 175/2007), specifically the third paragraph of this statement, in which the following is stated:-
"The Social Services Agency repeats, yet again, that it has always acted swiftly and responsibly whenever allegations of neglect or abuse have been made. All cases have been properly investigated...".
This statement is untrue and the public have the right to know this.
I resigned from this post in January 2004 for the reason that I - the manager charged with the overall management of the Dr Giraldi residential service - was prevented from ensuring that full and proper investigations were conducted into serious allegations made against several members of staff by a number of residents.
Instruction from ‘highest level' The instruction that the necessary disciplinary procedures were not to be followed was conveyed to me by the then Chief Executive Officer of the Social Services Agency. He advised me that this instruction had come from the ‘highest level' outside of the Social Services Agency without reference even to the then Minister for Social Affairs. In reply to my request for this instruction to be recorded in writing, I was advised that this would not be forthcoming. This placed me in the position of, on the one hand, being unable to discharge the professional duty of care owed to both the service users and staff of Dr Giraldi concerned in this regard while, on the other hand, remaining managerially responsible and accountable for this state of affairs.
I did not enter a care profession to set aside the rights and well-being of service users and others working in the care sector. My position was, therefore, untenable and I resigned it, this because full and proper investigations of serious allegations were prevented, thus placing both staff and service users at potential risks that were being disregarded.
The public should be aware, therefore, that the above statement from paragraph three of the Press Release issued by the Government of Gibraltar, Ministry of Family, Youth and Community Affairs, on 12 December 2007 (No. 175/2007) is, quite simply and sadly, untrue.
I have no idea why this untruth has been issued in a Press Release. Needless to say, however, it does give me some considerable anxiety as to what the truth actually is and I must, therefore, join the calls that have already been made for a full and independent public enquiry into the workings of the Social Services Agency. The rights and well-being of some of Gibraltar's most vulnerable people are at stake here, together with the integrity of those engaged in the difficult work of delivering the best possible quality of care."
http://www.vox.gi/Local/Was_Giraldi_Abuse_Cover-Up_Ordered-21122007.html 
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