The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also alleged that, while she was living in state care in the 1960s, she was sent on visits to family members during which she suffered an attempted rape at age six by a teenage relative. “Special leave to appeal is granted,” Edelman said. In a brief hearing on Thursday, High Court Justices James Edelman and Simon Stewart dispensed with the usual requirement for appeal to be lodged within 28 days of a decision. The woman, aged 69, had sought more than $1.76 million in damages claiming she suffered psychiatric injury from the state’s negligence in placing her with a foster family in the late 1950s where she was allegedly sexually assaulted between the ages of three and five. An Aboriginal woman who tried to sue the Queensland government over alleged sexual abuse while in forced state care has been granted leave to appeal in the High Court.
