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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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A Hamilton man who
staged a two-hour protest outside the Salvation Army church on Sunday plans
to do it again this weekend. Peter Murphy said he
had received a lot of public support during his protest against alleged abuse
of children in Salvation Army care. Mr Murphy's complaint
is one of 36 cases of alleged abuse being investigated by the Salvation Army.
The cases came to light
following the screening of a documentary of similar cases in Australia. Mr Murphy said he had
received dozens of telephone calls since his plea in last week's Times for
other alleged abuse victims to come forward. "I've had calls
from all over the North Island," he said. "One was from a
74-year-old woman who still has trouble sleeping because of memories of
things that happened to her." Mr Murphy spent 10
years at the Salvation Army's Whatman House, near Masterton, and said
physical abuse of children was a common occurrence. He was setting up a
database to keep in contact with the people who had contacted him. Salvation Army
spokesman Alistair Herring said occasional complaints were still "trickling
in" but were being outweighed by calls supporting the organisation. "There are two
sides to this. We've got a lot of calls from people wanting to tell good
stories," he said. "That's gratifying
and helpful." Mr Herring said the
Salvation Army would be responding to Mr Murphy's complaint. He said two of eight
historical claims of abuse against the Salvation Army were close to
resolution, leaving it with six old cases and 28 new cases. Ten of the new cases
relate to the former boys' home at Hodderville, southwest of Putaruru. |
