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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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The police say they
have no evidence of criminal offending by Dr Selwyn Leeks, the psychiatrist whom
former patients accuse of abusing them with electric shock therapy in the
1970s. Thirteen former
patients of the child and adolescent unit at the now-closed Lake Alice
Hospital near Wanganui have complained to the police about Dr Leeks since the
Government began paying compensation to many ex-patients in 2001. A police national
headquarters spokeswoman said yesterday: "there is no disclosed activity
or intervention with patients at Lake Alice that amounts to criminal
offending on the part of Dr Selwyn Leeks. On that basis there is neither
requirement nor authority to seek the extradition of Dr Leeks from
Australia." Yesterday the Herald
could not contact Dr Leeks, who practises in Melbourne. The psychiatric patient
advocacy group, Citizens Commission on Human Rights, was disappointed by the
decision, but vowed to fight on. "We're not giving
up now. We are still working with victims and are still going to be filing
criminal complaints," said the group's New Zealand executive director,
Steve Green. A former patient,
Aucklander Paul Zentveld, said he was preparing a complaint against Dr Leeks.
"Let them turn us
down at the moment but we aren't going away ... Justice will be served one
day." Dr Leeks headed the
hospital's notorious child and adolescent unit, which operated from 1972 to
1977. The Government paid
$10.7 million compensation to 183 former patients, after a retired judge it
appointed to investigate said they were subjected to a regime of
"terror." Their allegations, which the judge accepted as "in
the main ... true," included the use of electric shock therapy and
painful injections to punish children, a youngster being locked away with an
insane adult patient and sexual abuse. An Australian medical
authority has interviewed former Lake Alice patients in preparation for a
hearing into allegations against Dr Leeks. |
