The Christchurch Star
Christchurch, New Zealand.
Wednesday, June 7, 1989.

Doors opened on Ward 24

I asked you to put an end to the abuse -
-You put an end to my whole family
You took away my nights of hell and gave me days of hell instead
You’ve exchanged my private nightmare for a very public one.


These words of a 12 year-old child abuse victim could easily be attributed to any one of the five Christchurch children whose families, were shattered by allegations of sexual abuse after investigation by staff of Ward 24, Christchurch Hospital s specialist children’s ward.

Ten weeks after the “Christchurch Star” reported on one of the two cases dismissed by the Family Court, because of serious deficiencies in evidence by Ward 24 staff the Canterbury Area Health Board has released the results of its internal investigation.

The report prompted by a controversial Television New Zealand “Frontline” programme on Ward 24’s handling of two suspected abuse cases, sustains several key allegations against the ward.

However, the investigator, Sunnyside’s medical superintendent, Dr Les Ding supports the view that that the same allegations might equally have applied to many other Christchurch agencies, all struggling to deal with huge case loads, and achieve higher standards of evidence in prosecution cases.

In his 50 page report, Dr Ding provides a chilling account of the crisis which faced all agencies involved in child protection work, pointing out that Ward 24 was thrust ill-repared into complex evidential work largely because nobody else in the city was willing or able to take over the job