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Allegations of Abuse in
Institutions |
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A sex abuse victim is calling for
an inquiry into the way Salvation Army homes were run. Rhonda Markby reports.
A woman sexually abused at Temuka's Bramwell Booth Children's Home 30 years
ago is calling for a commission of inquiry into the way children were treated
in Salvation Army homes. She was one of eight complainants
in the two-week High Court trial of former home manager John Gainsford. Last
Friday, the Timaru jury found him guilty of all but one of the 23 indecency
and rape charges it had to consider against the former Salvation Army
captain. Jane (not her real name, as her
identity is suppressed by the court) plans to meet a lawyer today to discuss
her call for a commission of inquiry. She believes children at Salvation
Army homes throughout the country were subjected to various types of abuse. "This was something that was
rampant throughout the homes. "I am still in communication
with the other people who laid the complaints and as a group we will move
forward. "I keep using the words
transparency and honesty. Without that it will all be wiped under the carpet.
Nothing would get done. No one would address it, and it would all go away for
everyone but us." She believes other former
residents who chose not to lay complaints with the police would support her
call for a commission of inquiry. Jane doesn't accept the argument
that because the abuse happened in a different era, that somehow made it all
right. She was nine when Gainsford raped
her. "They knew back then that it
was terribly wrong. We are not talking minor stuff. "I've got a sister who used
to get beaten by a staff member with a baseball bat. "A young fellow was mentally
incapable. I saw him get beaten to a pulp on the dining room floor. That was
me and 39 other kids knowing that if we said anything it would be us (being
beaten) so we sacrificed him, but there's the guilt that you carry now when
you now realise you sacrificed a six-year-old." Her first adult contact with the
army over her allegations was around 2000. Those she spoke to were adamant
they had never known of Gainsford's abuse. In spite of that she was paid out
$20,000. There was no acknowledgement of what had happened to her, but rather
a letter stated "if the things I had complained of had occurred they
would be sorry". "It really was just hush money.
There were others who were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, but
right from the beginning I made it very clear that was something I would not
do." She saw that as proof the church
was still not acknowledging what had happened to her. Through a mutual contact Jane met
up with another woman who had been abused by Gainsford at Temuka, and in June
2004 they decided to lay complaints with the police. "I was overwhelmed by the
verdict. You are speaking to a 42-year-old woman, but it was a nine- year-old
girl who was in that courtroom, who had never been believed in her life. "To have 12 people believe
you was very healing and very amazing. "There are many people out
there who the police spoke to who still chose to ignore what happened, even
today." Jane has no opinion on the
sentence Gainsford should receive. "Justice for me has been
done. "I do have some feelings for
his family as I do think they are just as much a victim as we are. I believe
this has just come out to them now. "I don't know if putting him
in jail and letting him die there will do anyone any good. "I'm the only one (of the
complainants I have spoken to) who feels like that. Most other people think
jail him for life, think that is what he deserves." * Further report, Page 2 |
