Source: Melbourne Herald Sun [Norrie Ross]

"...Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper ran a front page story today, February 21, about Peter Greening, a man trapped in an aged care facility since witnessing his mother's brutal death in an assault in the home he shared with her.

Peter's story is one of a system that has convincingly and consistently failed him in the provision of the support he needs throughout his life.

That he cannot access the supported accommodation in the community that he and his family want, while an estimated $250,000 per year is spent keeping the teenage offenders who robbed him of his mother's support and care in juvenile detention, is outrageous!

It would not cost anywhere near this amount to provide the community based accommodation Peter wants and which would give him a life worth living.

The main article A forgotten victim is followed by a supplematary report published in the same paper titled Victim's life now full of agony.

Please write to the Editors of all metroplitan dailies in response to this story and highlight the fact that many more young Australians are languishing needlessly in aged care facilities. A list of email and postal adddresses can be found by going to the Letters to the Editor page of this website.

At the end of the article, you will find a poem written by Peter's sister, Janine Greening, that expresses how she feels young Australians with acquired disabilities are treated when they are summarily placed in aged care facilities and left without the support they need. It is a powerful piece of writing..."

A MENTALLY disabled man who witnessed his mother being tortured and killed has been abandoned by the Victorian Government.

Life now full of agony

Peter Greening, 51, sits in a nursing home with elderly people while the two teenage killers watch big-screen television, play table tennis and computer games, and enjoy daily swims.

It is estimated the Government spends almost $250,000 a year to keep the evil pair in juvenile detention.

But more than four years after the brutal killing of Marie Greening Zidan, the State Government has been unwilling to provide suitable accommodation for her helpless son.

When his mother died, Mr Greening lost his sole carer, a woman who fought authority to keep her son from being kept in a mental hospital.

Mr Greening's sister, Janine Greening, said it was heartbreaking that he had been discarded by society.

"Peter is the forgotten victim of this crime," Ms Greening said. "He's been dumped in a place that is not suitable. He's been locked away with elderly people when he needs to mix with people his own age. And he can't understand why."

She said she had fought and argued in vain to persuade authorities to find her brother home-style accommodation with 24-hour care.

"The Government shows such care for the welfare of these boys. They can't do enough for them and yet Peter is dumped and forgotten," she said.

Frail Mrs Zidan, 73, was bashed, sexually assaulted and choked to death in the bedroom of her Seaford home in October 2000.

Mr Greening cowered terrified nearby and escaped death only because the schoolboy killers thought he would be unable to identify them.

For the first year after the killing, Mr Greening lived in a private hospital with psychotics and drug addicts before moving to the nursing home in Frankston.

His family stress he is well cared for and say two weeks ago he finally won a place at a day centre for disabled people.

But Ms Greening said her brain-damaged brother could not understand why he could not live in a family situation with people his own age.

"Peter's words are, 'what have I done wrong? I didn't do anything'," she said.

"He can't understand why he is locked up permanently and they will get out."

The killers, who were 15 and 16 at the time of the crime, will be released in October next year.

They were originally charged with murder, but a plea bargain allowed them to plead guilty to manslaughter. Their original four-year jail terms were increased to six years on appeal, a judgment upheld by the High Court.

The pair are now 19 and 20 but their names have been kept secret. The community will not be told when they are freed or where they are living.

"These boys will come out and no one is going to know they murdered or sexually assaulted anyone," Ms Greening said.

"They are going to have a new beginning. They've got mummy and daddy at home. My brother hasn't got his mother. He can't go home because they took her away from him."

Mrs Zidan was a great-grandmother who used a walking frame. When she was in her 50s she qualified as a psychologist and counsellor.

Ms Greening cannot care for her brother at home because she has a serious degenerative illness, but she would like him to live closer to his family.

"He can never get married or have children. He wasn't even allowed to have his mother. Surely the least he deserves is for the Government to look after him properly."

Mr Greening, who has an acquired brain injury from a near drowning, suffered post traumatic stress after seeing his mother die.

"Peter told us on the day it happened that the boys told him they would kill him if he said anything and they cut his face," Ms Greening said.

While on remand, the pair left a crude and distressing message on Ms Greening's answering machine and were crowing about their wickedness.

"I don't think people realise how bad and evil these two boys are," she said. "I'm worried about them being out because they'll do it to someone else."

Victim's life now full of agony
Norrie Ross
21feb05

THE words seem to come out in an incoherent stream, but if you listen closely Peter Greening has something to say.

He mutters something about "the boys" and then uses the words "pure evil". There is pain and fear in his darting eyes.
And referring to the night his mother was killed, he says: "Bad. I think about it. Scared."

And he adds sadly, "I miss mum," before his confused thoughts make the words incomprehensible.

Already brain-damaged and psychologically scarred, vile luck had one more twist for Mr Greening when his mother and sole carer, Marie Greening Zidan, was tortured, raped and killed by two teenage thugs.

The pair, who were 15 and 16, terrorised the mother and son before strangling Mrs Zidan and stealing $10 in coins.

According to family members, Mrs Zidan was fiercely protective of her gentle and vulnerable son.

She would hold him in her arms and sing, "Blue days, all of them gone. Nothin' but blue skies from now on".

Mrs Zidan was determined "my Peter" would never end up in a hospital or institution, and fought with authorities to keep him at home.

But the 51-year-old became the victim left behind by a violent crime that shocked Victoria. He is a side of our justice system that the lawyers, the judges, the courts and the State Government would like to keep hidden.

Mr Greening receives a small pension, but has to pay for his meals and accommodation in a nursing home.

Though he is well looked after, he calls the nursing home a hospital where his freedom is restricted and his days are mapped out for him.

By contrast the schoolboy killers, who have never shown any remorse for what they did to the 73-year-old great-grandmother, have had a dream ride.

They have been coddled by an army of lawyers, judges, psychologists and psychiatrists desperate to find an excuse for their evil.

The pair have the protection of not being named, and when they walk out of youth detention next year neither Mrs Zidan's family nor the community will be allowed to know they are free or where they are living.

In custody they get plasma-screen TVs, pools, computers and taxpayer-funded day trips, as well as access to educational programs, counselling and pre-release training.

It took four years for the Government to find Mr Greening a place in a day centre. Attentive staff try to keep him occupied, but he is restless and wants to get away from institutional care.

If he decides to go to the movies or swimming with his family, he has to pay for taxis out of what is left of his pension.

Sister Ms Janine Greening said: "He can't understand why he is locked up permanently and my mother's killers will get out."

She wants the Government to find him suitable home-style accommodation with 24-hour care, shared with people his own age.

Even before the killing, Mr Greening had been dogged by bad luck and tragedy. When he was 12, he was the victim of a shocking assault by another youth that led to serious psychological problems.

Ms Greening believes her brother could have recovered from the trauma of the attack if he had been counselled.

Instead, he spiralled into depression and was locked up in a psychiatric ward with seriously disturbed adults where he was injected with insulin and subjected to shock treatment.

Mr Greening never recovered psychologically, but was able to rebuild his life to the point where he could function happily in society.

In his late 20s, he was swimming in a pool in country Victoria and nearly drowned. He stopped breathing, but after he was revived he was left with an acquired brain injury.

His mother provided 24-hour care, and though he had problems of compulsive behaviour and a scattered mind, he shaped a happy little world in his neighbourhood in Seaford.

Now Mr Greening is a traumatised man who cannot face Christmas because it brings back too many unhappy memories of what he has lost.

"Before mum was killed Peter had freedom, he had a home, and he had a mother. On the day she was killed, all that went," Ms Greening said.

"Like many victims of crime he wanted to avoid Christmas. He said to me, 'There's a 24th of December and a 26th'. He's trying to avoid thinking about the 25th."

In a moment of despair recently, Mr Greening pleaded with his sister: "Give me something to live for."

Throw Away People, by Janine Greening
This is how young people who are left in nursing homes, are dealt with as Throw away people, put in a place not to be seen or heard,
Their quality of life diminished and their dignity taken away.

All that is seen is the person with a disability, not the young person
With theIr dreams and the choices to follow these dreams.

I AM A THROW AWAY PERSON
LIKE A PIECE OF RUBBICH YOU DISCARD ME.
I AM NOT SEEN OR HEARD, I HAVE NO VOICE.
I HAVE NO PLACE IN YOUR MIND,
THERE IS NO THOUGHT OF ME OR MY KIND.
YOU DO NOT ASK ME HOW I AM,
NOR DO YOU COME MY WAY,
YET DECISIONS ARE MADE ABOUT ME
AS I HAVE NO SAY.
JUST LOCKED AWAY
FORGOTTEN
... Janine Greening

Janine says,
" Back in 1978 I worked for the Red Cross as a Volunteer in a nursing home with the elderly.

Among them were the young, some bedridden or in wheelchairs as there was no place to put them.

And here we are in 2005. I would like to say that things have changed but they haven't. We have not taken one step forward.

My brother, Peter, asked me to give him something to live for, to find him a place.

I ask you to give these young people in nursing homes something to live for.

Give them back their dignity and their lives by giving them the accommodation that is suitable to their needs."