‘Unspeakable trauma’: police in Queensland and NSW failed to investigate alleged gang rape of 14-year-old girl, records show

Exclusive: A senior officer told Karen Iles they believed her statement, including names, photos, maps and diary excerpts, had been destroyed

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Police in Queensland and New South Wales failed to investigate a series of alleged sexual assaults against a 14-year-old girl, lost key documents related to the case, and later told the alleged victim that her formal statement had been destroyed", a Guardian Australia investigation has found.

Legal sources say one of the allegations - a gang-rape attack by up to 15 teenagers and adult men in a Gold Coast hotel room in 1993 - is among the most serious ever reported to authorities in Australia.