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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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A retired social worker
has admitted taking no action though she considered a teenager highly
institutionalised and socially deprived. The now 82-year-old
gave evidence yesterday via video link from Auckland to the High Court at
Wellington, where one of her former clients is suing four Catholic groups for
$550,000. The woman who has
brought the case, and her six siblings, were put into Catholic care by her
mother whose marriage broke up in the 1960s. She says she was
verbally, physically, emotionally and sexually abused in the years that
followed while in the care of the Sisters of Mercy at St Joseph's Orphanage,
Upper Hutt, and St Mary's College, Wellington. The sisters' trust
board, the orphanage trust board, Catholic Social Services and Wellington's
Roman Catholic Archdiocese are defending the claim. Yesterday's witness,
whose name was suppressed, was a CSS social worker. She did not know what
legal connection CSS had to children in its care. In early 1972 she was asked
to "keep an eye" on the claimant. The nuns remained in control and
she had no authority to ask questions about what happened at the orphanage. During 1973 she noted signs
of social deprivation. A foster family placement lasted a few months. The
father thought she was obsessed with sexual matters, describing her at 13 or
14 as a "ripe plum" ready to drop into the lap of the first man to
come along. Earlier that year a
holiday host had found the claimant's "adolescent crush" on her
husband hard to deal with. The claimant's lawyer
asked what steps she took to address the series of problems. The witness said
that one by one they were not unexpected and at the time she did not think
outside help was needed. The following year the
claimant was "highly institutionalised" and conflict and
behavioural problems at school followed, she said. She still did not think
the claimant needed professional help. She agreed it would have been CSS's
responsibility to oversee the claimant. In her testimony two
weeks ago, the claimant said she was asked to indecently touch a farmer with
whom she and her sister spent a holiday. Yesterday the farmer, on whom she
was said to have had an "adolescent crush", testified that the
incidents never happened. He agreed they swam
naked together but said he did not force the sisters to do so and they did
not seem uncomfortable about it. The case is continuing.
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