‘I thought my son was safe’: Cleveland Dodd’s mother tells coroner’s court of her pain

The 16-year-old was taken to hospital in a critical condition and died a week later, causing outrage and grief in the community.

A long-running inquest in Perth heard from Cleveland’s mother Nadene Dodd on Wednesday.

“I thought my son was safe … and that he would leave detention, rehabilitated … better not worse off,” she said in a statement read to the court by a friend.

“My boy never stood a chance of regaining consciousness after he was found … His mind and his spirit died in that cell, not in the hospital.”

Ms Dodd said images shown to her of Cleveland “surrounded by uneaten plates of food cannot be unseen”.

“The concrete box in which he took his last breaths was barren and filthy,” she said.

“My son didn’t deserve to be treated the way that he was treated. My son didn’t deserve to die.

“Institutional abuse of children is unacceptable.”

Ms Dodd said governments must be held to a higher not a lower standard.

“It breaks my heart to know that from the moment he was transferred to Unit 18, Cleveland never got the chance to go outside, to feel the sun on his skin, to breathe in fresh air, to look at the sky,” she said.

“Instead, he spent his time locked down for almost 24 hours a day, day in and day out, for weeks on end.”

Ms Dodd said Cleveland and many other young Aboriginal men had been locked in inhumane conditions and “lost the will to live”.

“On his final night in Unit 18, my son’s pleas for help and a cup of water, the most basic of needs, went unanswered,” she said.

“It fills me with sadness knowing that in his darkest hours, he was alone.

“No loving words, no nurture, no one to sit with, to offer him comfort, to reassure him that he was loved and that his life was worth living.”

Ms Dodd said the West Australian government “sent my boy to Unit 18 and kept him there long after they knew that the conditions were unliveable, inhumane, disgusting”.

“I have heard people in charge giving evidence that lies were told and that they did not do what they were required to do,” she said.

Ms Dodd said witnesses had been excused from giving evidence but she could never escape Cleveland’s death.

“The loss of my son will be with me wherever I go, for as long as I live,” she said.

Ms Dodd said she would not let Cleveland’s short life be meaningless.

“His legacy will be to highlight the many ways in which the system failed him and to bring about real reforms,” she said.

“To ensure that no child has to endure what he did in Unit 18.”

Ms Dodd said the justice department and corrective services personnel responsible for youth justice must be held to account.

“I hope that this process, which is unimaginably difficult for me and my family, and indeed all those who loved Cleveland, will be the catalyst for real and lasting change,” she said.

A photo of Cleveland was displayed in court while the statement was being read.