|
|
Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
|
|
|
|
Aged 18, she was depressed after
the birth of a baby, the second of her four children. But instead of receiving help,
Mary says, she suffered beatings and sexual abuse, and was left damaged by
electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). She is among nearly 200 people who
have lodged complaints with two Mary's 1968 Tokanui admission was
her first of many stays in psychiatric institutions. Now aged 54, she said
she was treated well elsewhere, but not at Tokanui. Staff there had often locked her
in a seclusion (solitary) cell. "I woke up and this staff
member was having sex with me." She struggled and he left. At
first she thought it was a nightmare, but she knew it was real after he raped
her twice more. "When I told a staff member they said that sort of thing
just didn't happen there." She also recalls being beaten
several times by groups of two or three staff, sometimes after they had
ripped her clothes off. She was left bruised and in pain.
And the frequent doses of ECT had left her still suffering headaches and nausea.
It had contributed to ongoing
mental difficulties, which meant she was unable to hold down a job, though
her life now was "not too bad", living with a daughter and
grandchildren. But her recollections of trauma at
Tokanui are easily rekindled. "If
there's mention of anything like that I still get cold and fearful." |
