Three boys crawled into a skip bin one night and by morning one was dead. How did it happen?

A coronial inquest is examining the death of Indigenous 13-year-old Budda Spencer, who had for years been on the radar of South Australian police and child protection

On a cold night five years ago, three boys crawled into an industrial skip bin, pulled cardboard over themselves to keep warm, and – though they planned to stay awake – fell asleep.

They woke as a rubbish truck hoisted the bin and poured its contents – including those three friends – into the storage section. One boy clambered out before the lid closed. Another stayed low. The third, whose family want him to be known as Budda Spencer, tried to escape but was injured in the fall, then crushed as the lid automatically closed. He died at the scene.

It was 11 May 2021 in Port Lincoln, in South Australia, about 650km from Adelaide. Budda had just turned 13.

A coronial inquest is now trying to work out what went wrong for the boy, who had been on the radar of the South Australian police, the SA Department for Child Protection (DCP), and a range of agencies and community organisations for years.

Port Lincoln, a small coastal town on Barngarla country known as the seafood capital of Australia, boasts a glittering marina packed with luxury yachts and fishing vessels.

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In the 2021 census, 6.6% of the town’s population identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander – almost three times higher than the rest of South Australia. That census also recorded a median household income that was slightly below the rest of the state, but that figure doesn’t capture the discrepancy between millionaire tuna barons at one end, and extreme poverty at the other.

So far, the inquest before deputy state coroner Naomi Kereru has heard that Budda came from a home described as loving but disadvantaged. Some who knew him well described him as a mischievous storyteller who was kind and funny, others as a troubled boy with hearing and learning impairments, who was often roaming the streets at night.

In Adelaide this week, hearings focused on the DCP’s actions and why it was not considered a priority case.

Adolescent at risk

Budda’s mother, Deborah Betts, the inquest heard, was desperately worried about her sonbut could not keep him home and was struggling to cope.

In her opening statement, Rebecca Schell, the counsel assisting the coroner, said Betts had a “volatile relationship” with Budda Spencer’s father when they were living in Ceduna, and that there were several alleged domestic violence episodes. In 2019, the father went to prison and the family moved to Port Lincoln.

In March 2021, DCP assessed Budda as an adolescent at risk. He was skipping school, and out on the streets at night.

At one point he stayed at a mate’s place. SA police family violence intervention officer Madison Sellick told the inquest it was “a very active drug address”.

His home, she added, was a mess.

“I recall seeing many mattresses on the floor with little to no bedding … lots of dishes piled upon the floor and on the different surfaces throughout the property and other rubbish piled up in corners,” she said.

Sellick said she had several interactions with Budda and his family. In April, one month before her son’s death, Betts told her he would “just take off on her” and she “felt like there was nothing that she could do for him any more”.

Sellick said she didn’t think Budda had a good understanding of police cautions, his offending, or his bail conditions. Schell told the inquest he had a hearing impairment, and a severe language disorder, but refused to wear a “hearing hat” that would have helped.

Tony Perks, a senior youth worker and manager at the Port Lincoln based West Coast Youth and Community Support centre (WCYCS), described it differently, saying the house was messy not in “a hoarding or squalor style situation” but in “the nature of a busy household”.

Perks said he “had a lot of connection” with the “mischievous” preteen.

“He would love to drop past the office or our youth hub and come have a yarn or share a story with one of the youth workers,” he said.

“He loved to have a yarn, he loved to have a chat and he loved to stretch his stories.

“We spent many a times hearing about fishing adventures where I’m pretty sure he didn’t catch crocodiles and the like.”

He also had a caring, loving grandmother, Perks said.

‘Inadequate supervision’

By 2021, Budda was increasingly getting in trouble. He tried to hitchhike to Ceduna, about 400km away, to see his family – but didn’t get far.

In late April 2021, he was arrested for trespassing and spent about a week in the Adelaide Youth Training Centre, a detention facility. No application was made for bail, the inquest heard, because Budda said he did not want to go home.

Betts was becoming “increasingly worried about her son,” Schell said.

“He was spending time away from his family home and he would run away from family when they saw him,” Schell said.

“Deborah Betts thought she was losing control of her son.”

A meeting between police, Aboriginal family support services, WCYSS and the departments for youth justice and human services was held on 4 May to discuss his case, under the state’s vulnerable family and young person framework. DCP representatives did not attend.

Perks says it was “frustrating” that DCP didn’t always come to the vulnerable families meetings, where information was shared. The community services can’t access the child protection system to see what’s going on, he says.

The inquest heard the DCP was understaffed and overwhelmed. They were only able to deal with the most urgent cases, and had to triage and assess notifications quickly, preferably within an hour.

Because Budda was not considered to be in imminent danger, deemed as having “inadequate supervision” rather than being abused or neglected, his case was not escalated. Lower tier notifications have a 10-day timeframe for investigation.

Betts last saw her son on Friday 7 May. The family looked for him that weekend.

On Sunday 9 May, police found Budda Spencer with his two friends N and D, but he ran away. That night, he and his friends slept out at the Centenary Oval grandstand.

On 10 May the boys went to the house where D had been placed, under out-of-home care. Budda wasn’t allowed to be there, so they were moved on.

A local manager for Aboriginal Family Support Services, Angela Backman, saw them that day.

“It’s risky being out all night when we don’t know where [you are],” she told them.

“Come home, make sure that you’re warm. We’re worried about you, your family is worried about you.”

The boys told her they would make safe choices.

They didn’t want to go home. But they did not want the cops to catch them out overnight.

So they decided to get into an industrial bin in the car park of the local Repco autoparts store.

At 5.15am on 11 May, the truck arrived to empty the bin. At 5.50am, Budda Spencer was declared dead.

The inquest continues, with findings expected by the end of the year.

• Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636