The former head of the New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice has told a Supreme Court trial that child sex abuse at a notorious youth detention centre on the Central Coast was undeniable.

Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse.

Ken Buttrum AM, was scathing of the conditions at the Mount Penang Juvenille Justice Centre, where former detainee Nathan Darcy Stanley, 44, claims he was sexually assaulted on two occasions in 1996.

"Some people to this day do not believe there was sexual exploitation at Mount Penang and unfortunately, they were terribly wrong,"

Mr Buttrum said.

"It suited some people to apparently ignore some of this stuff, which they found it hard to come to grips with.

"Mt Penang had an appalling history, and I mean that sincerely."

Mr Stanley

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