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Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
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A former resident of the Salvation
Army's Bramwell Booth Home is so angry with the organisation's handling of
complaints against a former manager that she will not support it in any way. Giving evidence in the High Court
at Timaru yesterday, she said children at the home learned there wasn't any
point in telling anyone about how they were being abused because they weren't
believed, and no one did anything to stop it. She attended a reunion at Bramwell
Booth in the 1980s and tried to tell Salvationists there about her
experiences, but said she was shut down. The first time anyone from the
Salvation Army allowed her to talk fully about her experiences was at a
meeting in 2003. Former Salvation Army captain John
Francis Gainsford, 69, is on trial in front of Justice Fogarty and a jury of
nine women and three men on 23 indecency and rape charges. He has pleaded guilty to a further
four charges. The charges relate to alleged
offending at the home near Temuka in the early 1970s when Gainsford was
manager. "I'm very angry with the
Salvation Army, and I won't support them in any way," the complainant
said. "When my husband takes me out
to tea, they come around with their collections, and I struggle not to tell
them my story." Under cross-examination, the
witness was told Gainsford would say he had not raped her – either in the
bedroom at his home, or in a secluded area down a track near the home. "Do you think there's any
possibility that over a period of time your memory is not accurate?" She replied that the statement she
made was 100 per cent accurate. "If it wasn't what I said it
was, then what was he doing with me in those places? I don't believe he can
admit his guilt, because how could he live? I believe it's his memory that's
got cloudy over the years, not mine." Evidence from Gainsford's former
wife, Jill Gainsford, was read to the court. In it, Mrs Gainsford – a retired
Salvation Army major – said that just before Christmas 1974, Gainsford came
home and told her he had been touching some of the children. She couldn't remember whether he
said boys or girls or both. He did not give any names, or say that he had
been doing anything other than touching. He said they had to go to
Christchurch for a meeting with a Salvation Army major. "I was thunderstruck. I can't
recall what was said, but I do know she asked John if there had been any
penetration, and John said definitely not." The major asked for and was given
an assurance nothing like this would happen again, and the couple were told
they would be moved in January, and Gainsford would work only with adults in
the future. After that meeting, Gainsford
spent little time with the children in the home. The couple's children were
not told about the situation, and Mrs Gainsford did not believe it was public
knowledge. She did not believe the meeting would be in any formal records. The Gainsford family moved to
Auckland in January 1975. They never returned to Temuka. Their marriage began to break down
around this time. Mrs Gainsford said she found it more difficult to trust her
husband. They spent five years in Auckland
before moving to Wellington. Gainsford resigned from the Salvation Army in
1983, and despite relationship counselling, the couple separated two years
later. Gainsford phoned his former wife
and their children to tell them he had been charged with the offences on
which he is now appearing. "I've known this for 30
years, and always wondered if it would come up." Evidence from a detective who
interviewed Gainsford was also read to the court. While Gainsford said he
remembered some of the complainants' names, in answer to the allegations they
had made against him, his response was "no comment". |
