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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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Otago Daily Times
February 19, 2004

Former Campbell Park pupil dismissive of allegations
Number of abuse claimants growing
NZPA

Oamaru: A growing number of former Campbell Park School pupils are coming forward with stories of the abuse they suffered there.

Wellington lawyer Sonja Cooper yesterday said she had already heard from 10 or 11 men who had attended the Otekaieke school.

When the abuse allegations first became public last month, she had spoken to five ex-pupils. As media coverage of trouble at the institution continued, more had contacted her.

Ms Cooper said none of them had spoken to the others about what happened at Campbell Park in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was a special school for boys considered "intellectually impaired", or who had caused difficulties at regular schools.

"It's not like they all clubbed together. Their credibility is that they are coming from disparate parts of New Zealand. One of them even lives in Australia."

She said she was preparing their cases to be taken to court, seeking compensation from the Government for the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse they said was inflicted by senior pupils and staff.

Their accounts were "remarkably consistent", Ms Cooper said.

She had also been contacted by a woman and her mother who used to live near Campbell Park, saying they had witnessed some of the bullying. They were willing to make statements in court.

"What we're discovering as we're hearing more and more stories is that those in care institutions, including foster placements, had a very high likelihood of abuse - physical, sexual, or emotional."

Some had suffered all three.

Ms Cooper has gained a profile for her work with abuse victims, handling cases from former patients of Porirua Hospital and various Department of Social Welfare institutions. The effects of their early trauma was clear in their adult lives, she said. Most had been through the criminal justice or mental health system.

A former Campbell Park pupil said the school in the 1930s and '40s was a cruel place, but the pupils also had fun.

The man, who did not want to be identified, yesterday said he saw no sexual abuse at the school while he was there from 1936 to 1945.

"I cannot believe any of this nonsense that's been put in the papers about boys raping one another," he said.

He acknowledged that he did not know the senior boys who worked on the school farms or in the cookhouse and was not aware of the teachers' business, but was adamant there was no sexual abuse in the dormitories where he lived from the age of 6 to 15.

However, he said the school was very cruel.

"It was very cruel how they treated us when we were naughty," he said. "If we ran away, when we were caught, the manager would start on us first.

"He would hit us across the backside. We put our hand on a bench and they hit our knuckles until our hand swelled up.

"Sometimes, they would push your head against a wall."

But the man said pupils were not treated like that all the time.

"If we were good boys, everything went nice."

He said there was plenty of sport on offer, movies were shown on Saturdays, the boys could go swimming a few times a week in summer, and if it had snowed, they were allowed to spend the day playing in the snow instead of doing lessons.