The state's new attorney general has confirmed there are more convicted child rapists attending Perth schools after two cases were revealed in the media in the past month.
John Quigley, who was sworn in as Attorney General on Friday, told WAtoday he was aware of additional cases to an 11-year-old convicted child rapist who until recently attended a northern suburbs school, and a convicted 17-year-old sex offender and accused 12-year-old child rapist who until Tuesday attended a school south of Perth.
"From the parent's position, I'm very concerned, from an attorney general position, it's a devilish problem to solve but we must find a solution," he said.
"I have a seven-year-old daughter, I have a ten-year-old daughter, both in school - if there's a sex offender at their school, as a parent, I'd certainly want to know.
"That has to be balanced against a whole lot of statutory requirements, for example the child offender's right to an education and the provision of legislation in relation to non-identification of children before the court."
Education minister Sue Ellery confirmed on Tuesday the two boys at the school south of Perth have been removed from the school after dozens of parents temporarily took their children out of class in protest.
She is yet to provide details on how the boys will be alternatively schooled.
Mr Quigley, Ms Ellery and other newly appointed ministers including the minister for police and child protection, will meet this week to try and find a solution to state laws that enable a convicted child sex offender to quietly return to school - with parents, teachers and students unable to be warned of their offences.
"[Former education minister] Peter Collier and the previous government haven't fronted up to this problem," he said.
"An 11-year-old perpetrator is just past the age of criminal responsibility... what's happening to our kids?"
His comments come after an 11-year-old boy pleaded guilty to raping an eight-year-old boy at knife point at a park in December.
The boy was removed from his school by the state government after parents learnt of his offences via social media in February and threatened to remove their children from the school.
Weeks later another similar case came to light where a 17-year-old student was sentenced in February to a 12-month intensive youth supervision order in the Perth Children's Court in relation to three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 13 and four counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13.
WAtoday understands most of the offences related to a 12-year-old male victim at the same south of Perth school as the teenager.
The 12-year-old victim has also been charged with one count of sexual penetration against a nine-year-old boy and is expected to enter a plea to the charge next month.
The heartbroken mother of the nine-year-old boy allegedly raped by a 12-year-old boy has pleaded for more government support after telling WAtoday the charged boy continued to live within the community.
She said her young son had become suicidal since the alleged incident and was struggling to attend his school, which is a different school to the 12-year-old and 17-year-old.
"No one knows who they are," she said.
"I've told friends of mine to keep their kids away from [the 12-year-old].... it's so secret, so quiet what's happened.
"We have to pack up our whole lives and move away while these people get protected by some stupid law... our lives have fallen apart."
Under Children's Court laws, juvenile offenders' identities are protected and schools are often left with their hands tied if a child has a violent conviction against their name.
A Department of Education spokeswoman has previously said it is an offence for anyone, including a school, to publish information which could lead to the identification of a child involved in court proceedings.
"WA's School Education Act guarantees the right of every child to an education, irrespective of a range of factors, which may include criminal charges," she said.
The nine-year-old victim's mother claims she has been unable to source much information about her son's alleged attacker and had received minimal support from government agencies.
"They don't tell me anything to protect [the accused] because he is so young - it doesn't matter who I ring, they don't give me anything," she said.
"I've had to find my own private psychologist because my son was going to commit suicide.
"[The only support I have had from the government] was when the Department of Child Protection rang a couple of weeks later to make sure my son was in a safe environment."
Ms Ellery confirmed on Monday she was treating the policy issue as a top priority and claimed the system had let down the nine-year-old boy and his family.
"I can understand parents' concern about the safety of their children," she said.
"Every child has a statutory entitlement to an education but every parent is entitled to know that their children are safe at school."
Concerned parents who rallied outside Parliament House on Monday morning said the law needed to be changed to better protect the general population, rather than the offending child.
"Your child could be sitting in a classroom next to a child sex offender and you just don't know about it and there's no way of knowing because you actually don't have a right to know," said one mother.
"Those kids need to be schooled alternatively, they have a right to be schooled... but it shouldn't be at the risk of our children that are vulnerable to being their prey or to being sexually fantasised about while they're in class."
