NAURU – Nauruan police have charged a person with indecent assault of a six-year-old asylum seeker who was held in Australia’s care, in what appears to be the first case relating to alleged abuse of an asylum seeker that has made it to Nauru’s courts.

The alleged indecent assault took place in October last year, when the young girl involved was six.

The full circumstances of the allegation are unknown and it is unclear whether the events took place inside or outside the Australian-run detention centre, the Guardian reports.

The identity of the alleged perpetrator was suppressed by the court, with the girl identified only as “M”. It is not clear whether the girl has had her claim for refugee status considered.

Advice provided to the court by four medical and welfare staff from the Australian government’s contracted service provider, International Health and Medical Services, set out the difficult circumstances of the girl’s case and the impact of the alleged assaults and her prolonged detention.

“M was a six-year-old girl who had been exposed to adverse life events such as parental separation, migration, prolonged detention and alleged sexual abuse,” the staff wrote.

“As a consequence M now presents with emotional and behavioural disturbances such as anxiety, night terrors and social isolation.”

The Australian government has consistently sought to diminish both the seriousness and the veracity of abuse and assault claims made by asylum seekers held in Australia’s care on the remote Pacific island.

Following the publication of the Nauru files by the Guardian, the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said he “won’t tolerate any sexual abuse whatsoever”.

He suggested asylum seekers had made false claims of abuse because they wanted to come to Australia.

The case is likely to focus further attention on the Nauruan legal system’s capacity to handle allegations of abuse.

Many legal experts and former detention staff have warned that asylum seekers on Nauru may never be able to obtain justice.

Magistrate Emma Garo ruled in a preliminary decision that the child’s evidence would be heard in closed court. But she declined to grant a prosecution request that the girl not be made available for cross-examination by the defence.

The medical and welfare staff had strongly urged the court not to require her to appear to give evidence.

“A court appearance is highly likely to adversely affect her overall presentation, increasing her subjective stress and trauma,” they wrote.

“The emotional vulnerability of a child should always be taken into consideration when subject to court appearance. It is the writers’ expert opinion that evidence for M’s testimony should be gathered through more appropriate means, such as written statements or audio recordings outside the courtroom or other adverse environment.”

But magistrate Garo wrote: “My reading of the recommendation provided in the report is that her evidence could still be taken by the court but in a less stressful and less imposing environment outside of the courtroom or in an alternative less imposing environment.”

Garo said the girl should provide evidence but in an environment that was as “child-friendly” as possible.

In Australia there are significant restrictions on the cross-examination of alleged victims of sexual or indecent assault, and limits on cross-examination of children.

But under Nauru’s Criminal Procedure Act it appears to be left largely up to the court to consider whether restrictions should apply.

Guardian Australia has put questions to Dutton and his department. Neither responded to requests for comment on the case.

The government faces a Senate inquiry into allegations of abuse at the Nauru detention centre.

The secretary of the immigration department, Michael Pezzullo, recently told a Senate estimates hearing that the department had taken “immediate and appropriate” action when responding to incidents on Nauru. - Guardian