ACT police mistakenly handed over the address of a now terrified family to their daughter's violent, criminally convicted ex-boyfriend.
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The family say they were shocked to learn of the "grave" error which undid their efforts to hide from the man for years. Now the father of the man's ex-girlfriend says he is counting down the days until he turns up on their doorstep.
"Instantly, [I felt] dread and fear, because of this individual's previous history of violence," he said. "It's a long and protracted campaign of violence against this family."
The address was mistakenly released to the man after he subpoenaed documents through lengthy and ongoing Family Court proceedings involving himself and his ex-girlfriend.
The court allowed the documents to be handed over but ordered all personal details be redacted from the documents. Inadvertently, police released an unredacted copy of two pages from an officer's notebook, which contained the address, date of birth and name of an underage member of the family.
Police have admitted the oversight and launched an internal review.
An ACT Policing spokeswoman said the agency understood the family's concerns and a superintendent had been tasked to talk and attempt to support them.
The ex-boyfriend has criminal convictions for assault and has breached court orders prohibiting contact with the family in the past.
A court has previously heard that he went to the workplace of his former partner's new boyfriend and repeatedly punched him in the head in 2007.
The victim took out a protection order, but within hours the offender had come across his ex-girlfriend on the street and began abusing her. Scared, she decided to go to a police station, telling her new boyfriend to meet her there.
The new partner was standing in reception when the ex walked in and punched him in front of two police officers.
The family say they have done everything they could to ensure the man could not track them down. "His sole aim is to get to my daughter, he has an obsession with her that belies belief," the father said.
"He's objectified her, it's something that belongs to him and belongs to no one else."
The family have been forced to change their movements, get quotes for upgraded security and are no longer allowing children out after dark. Now they have asked the Australian Federal Police to act quickly to ensure their safety.
"The first thing that should occur is that the AFP should take steps, and proactive steps, to make sure the information they've inadvertently released can't be used against us," the father said.
He said a plan needed to be formulated to protect the family, including a safety net and cross-border communication with NSW police.
The father, who formerly worked with the AFP, said he had been less than impressed with the police response, often failing to get timely replies to questions and emails.
The family have taken the reluctant step of going public to try to ensure appropriate action is taken. They also fear that the same thing may have happened to other families.
"I don't suspect I'm the first person that this has happened to," the father said. "What I suspect is that once this is published, we might get a few more people coming forward to say 'hey, this happened to me'."
