Women and children at the Nauru detention centre choose to wet the bed at night rather than risk being attacked on visits to the bathroom, a Sydney paediatrician told the Senate inquiry into alleged abuse at the Nauru detention centre.
The disturbing claim was aired during a Senate inquiry hearing in Canberra on Tuesday in which centre operator Transfield Services, Wilson Security and welfare provider Save the Children gave evidence about how abuse complaints are handled.
A female asylum seeker at the centre told visiting Sydney pediatrician David Isaacs last year of the harrowing night she was raped on the way to the bathroom.
The woman had wept uncontrollably for 10 minutes as she detailed the ordeal, but had chosen not to report it to police because of fears of repercussions.
"Many children and some mothers had nocturnal enuresis (bed-wetting at night) rather than run the gauntlet of a night-time toilet visit," Professor Isaacs said in a written submission.
Wilson Security told the hearing it was unaware of the incident and declined to speculate on why women were so terrified.
The only CCTV cameras cover the administration, recreation and medical centre areas, though some security guards wore GoPro cameras in emergency situations but the footage was routinely deleted, the hearing was told.
Wilson general manager John Rogers said he did not believe allegations male staff watched female asylum seekers and children in bathrooms, with some said to have urged women to expose themselves for extra shower time.
Male guards had to wait outside the family facility while female guards entered bathroom areas, he said.
However, a Wilson guard had been sacked "on the balance of probabilities" for inappropriately handling a detainee.
Mr Rogers denied the immigration department had requested a report from the company's intelligence team about claims Save the Children staff were coaching asylum seekers on self harm, fabricating abuse allegations and orchestrating protests.
The claims led to a request to remove 10 aid workers and was the basis for a review that found no evidence of any wrongdoing but uncovered cases of abuse.
Save the Children chief executive Paul Ronalds said his staff were the victims of "Chinese whispers" and deserved an apology from the department.
Former immigration minister Scott Morrison said the government had been getting the centre on the right footing after inheriting an under-funded facility from Labor.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott insisted his government was doing everything it could to ensure basic human decency was applied at the Nauru centre.
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