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Allegations
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But there was another
side to the respected pillar of society who died five months ago. Lake, who ran the
Berhampore orphanage for 20 years, has been revealed as a sexual monster who
terrorised and preyed on small children in his care. There are possibly
dozens of victims who share dark secrets about being sexually abused by him.
Aged between eight and 14, they were abused in his home, his car and at the
Presbyterian Social Services offices. Following a Sunday
investigation last year, police began an inquiry into Lake and have revealed
that they were going to arrest him - but he died before they could. Now his victims are
angry and feel deprived of justice. One of Lake's victims, Kathleen
Batchelor, broke the silence on the abuse but her cries to authorities were
ignored for years. "If they had acted
way back then he would have been bought to justice, now he's gone we can't
bring him to justice. But boy, will he suffer in the next life,"
Batchelor told Sunday. Aged about 13 she tried
to blow the whistle to a matron on Walter Lake's staff. Kathleen told her
what happened and the matron said she didn't believe her. "For many, many
years I told different ones [matrons] trying to get this out in the open, to
deal with it," Batchelor says. She says she rang a
national moderator of the Presbyterian Church. "He said 'well
it's your word against his'. He wasn't prepared to do anything,"
Batchelor says. Twenty years
ago Batchelor formally complained to police, but they believed Walter
Lake, not her. She also told Presbyterian Support Services about him a number
of times -20, 15 and then four years ago, the third time backed up by another
victim. Batchelor was not the
only one to come out against Lake. Fourteen years ago the
Presbyterian Church was warned not once, but three times about him by a
member of its own clergy. Mavis Van dalen, a
deaconess who damns the way the Presbyterian's are handling the Walter Lake
scandal, told the Presbyterian Church he was a sexual predator. "I was just
horrified. It hit me, this is happening in my church. I know it's happened in
others, but this is the church that I belong to. "I think it is
absolutely deplorable that they are in denial," Van dalen told Sunday. She was so alarmed she
repeatedly phoned a former head of the Presbyterian Church, Duncan Jamieson,
who said he would pass her warning on to a Presbyterian committee. To her
knowledge nothing was done. Another of Lake's
victims Karen Millan rang Presbyterian Support last year. She was put onto a
former counsellor who new Lake and was asked if she wanted counselling and if
she wanted to plant a tree. Millan was told if the
victims wanted an apology they would have to put it in writing. "Their attitude
was that if we wanted counselling they would help. But if we wanted
compensation the door would be shut, we'd have to go to court," Millan
told Sunday. Walter Lake was in
charge of the Berhampore home and was head of Wellington's Presbyterian
Social Services that has since morphed into Presbyterian Support Services. The church is at pains
to point out they are a separate organisation. But they do appoint board
members to Presbyterian support services. Frustrated at the
response from Presbyterian authorities many of Lake's victims have hired
Palmerston North barrister Gordon Paine. Paine says that
Presbyterian Support have sat on their hands and resisted any attempt to
bring closure for the victims. "I believe clearly
they know and have known for some years what this is about and just turned a
blind eye. "They won't talk
to them; they won't try and get around a table. They won't do any of the
things that other religious institutions that have been the subject of claims
like this have done," Paine says. The church and
Presbyterian Support were poles apart in responding to the victims'
criticism. Church spokeswoman
Josephine Reading told Sunday they regret that it has taken so long for the
complainants to have the issues resolved and worked through. The church claims the
same thing would not happen today. "In 1991 our
resources around sexual misconduct and matters of that nature weren't as
robust as they are now," Reading says. They say the
responsibility though lies with the social agency Presbyterian Support. "It is important
to remember these incidents occurred in a home under the control and
management of Presbyterian Support," says Reading. Presbyterian Support
says it has consistently told complainants to go to police. But Walter Lake died
before the complainants could get their day in court. Now Presbyterian
Support's spokesman Trevor Roberts says if Lake's victims want to talk to
them, they'll have to do it in a court room. "There are avenues
open to them that they should pursue, frankly it's now gone too far to
indulge in warm fuzzy meetings," Roberts says. He says it is about
management of risk and finding the truth of the matter and the fact that
police decided to charge Lake doesn't mean that he's guilty. "I have to tell
you that our own investigations into some of the matters where we have been
able to investigate indicate that there are some quite considerable issues of
credibility in respect of some of those complainants," Roberts says. However police believed
the victims. Within weeks of the
initial Sunday story screening police heard from many of Lake's victims. Head of Wellington
police's child abuse squad, Glenn Williams, says that in the first week of
December last year they intended to approach Lake and they had enough
evidence to put him before the court. Police told victim
Karen Millan and her family that he was a classic paedophile. They said they
were sure there were lots of victims, who hadn't come forward, but they had
13 and that was enough. Police also told them Lake had been in the police system
for a long time. "There was
certainly enough strong similarities in the complainants to cause the police
to believe that he should be put before the court and believe the allegations
of the complainants," Williams says. Trevor Roberts was
unaware of the scale of the police investigation into Walter Lake. "I have to tell
you that we are not aware that there are 13 potential complainants and if
there are we don't even know who they are and some of them have certainly not
even approached Presbyterian support. So as far as we are concerned, that is
not an issue. As for the complainants we know about, they have embarked on a
course of action and they should follow it," Roberts says. Lake's victims now have
to suffer further battles before they can receive the closure they need |
