Allegations of Abuse in Institutions
	Psychiatric Hospitals Index Jan-June 2004 Index
	One News June 12, 2004 Police reopen 1960s Kingseat case The death of an 11-year-old boy nearly four decades ago at an Auckland psychiatric hospital is being investigated again by police. The case has been reopened after a witness spoke out against the original coroner's findings. The case is also adding weight to calls for a commission of inquiry into claims of abuse at psychiatric institutions in the 1960s and '70s. Clement Matthews was 10 years old when he was committed to Kingseat Hospital. He died a year later, less than 24 hours after an alleged beating by a male nurse. Now a witness who says he saw the beating is prepared to testify. "He wants some closure, he wants it investigated, he wants there to be some justice for him and the young boy who died there," says the witness' lawyer Sonja Cooper. Her client is one of many former child patients at psychiatric hospitals like Kingseat and Porirua who have filed claims in the High Court seeking compensation for alleged sexual, physical and mental abuse. At Porirua Hospital, Cooper says her clients claim nurses allowed a 14-year-old asthmatic to die. "She started to turn purple and black because she couldn't breathe. Eventually the nurses came and dragged this girl out on a mattress but by that stage she was unconscious and she died later." She wants a commission of inquiry into the mounting claims of abuse. Attorney General Margaret Wilson says she is "closely monitoring the case and will be meeting with (Crown law) officials this week to assess the progress that's been made". Whether there is an inquiry or it goes to the courts, lawyers and officials agree many hundreds of complainants will be involved.