|
|
Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
|
|
|
|
The Crown Law Office is deciding
whether former Former patients at the now-closed
mental hospital have battled for years for compensation. About 120 former
patients say they were abused, beaten, raped or given electric shock
treatment as punishment while kept in the hospital during the 1960s and
1970s. Government lawyers failed in an
attempt to have a class action lawsuit struck out this year. Detective Senior Sergeant Mike
Oxnam said last night that the results of investigations into at least two
complaints had been referred to Crown Law for a decision on whether charges
should be laid. A former patient, who is suing the
Government for more than $1 million, said last night that he was still
waiting to hear from Porirua police about a complaint he laid last year. He claimed he was beaten several
times by staff at the hospital. On one occasion he was knocked to the floor,
kicked in the ribs and kidneys and grabbed by the hair. His head was knocked
on the floor until he lost consciousness. "I hope (the two male nurses
who he says assaulted him) are prosecuted." He said he was misdiagnosed and
treated for conditions he did not have. He was given heavy medication and had
electro-convulsive therapy 18 times. "There was nothing wrong with
me – the only thing I suffered was trauma from the treatment I suffered in
hospital." He had been diagnosed as suffering
post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of what happened to him. He was
admitted for a total of 13 months between the ages of 14 and 17. Records show that some of the children
were as young as nine when they were placed in psychiatric institutions
because of "behavioural difficulties". Child, Youth and Family Services
chief executive Peter Hughes said last night that during the past few years
several child abuse complaints had been made against public agencies,
including the former Social Welfare Department. "Child, Youth and Family
takes very seriously any allegations of abuse against children no matter when
the abuse is alleged to have happened." Child, Youth and Family referred
allegations to police, if warranted, and would help police in any
investigations. While prosecution of former staff
is being considered, Crown Law has been fighting the class action by the
former patients. In a court judgment in January, Associate Judge David
Gendall rejected a Crown attempt to have the legal action stopped. He said the cases were still at an
early stage of the court process and the factual situation was "murky at
best". He could not strike out the claims
unless the Crown showed they could not possibly succeed. Another former patient, Beverly
Jackson, who claimed she was physically and mentally abused when she was a
teenage patient in |
