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Allegations
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The Anglican Church has
apologised to three women for the abuse they suffered at St Mary's home for
unmarried mothers in Otahuhu more than 40 years ago. The apology came during
an emotional two-hour meeting this week between Auckland Bishop John Paterson
and the three women - Dianne Macdonald, Lorine Forbes and Diane Oswald. Miss Macdonald said the
women had suffered emotionally for many years as a result of their time spent
at St Mary's. She went there in 1963
looking for help after being too scared to tell her mother or boyfriend that
she was pregnant. During the three months
she stayed at the home the 18-year-old was forced to scrub floors on her
hands and knees with tiny brushes. A strict matron would slap the backs of
her knees for not working hard enough. Each week she and
several other girls were forced to strip, lie on beds where she said they
would be examined by a doctor who would "thump" their breasts and
touch them inappropriately. They were never told what to expect during
childbirth or what would happen - only that they weren't fit to keep their
babies. When the day came for
Miss Macdonald to finally have her baby she was slapped for crying during
labour and refused pain relief. After 20 hours of
labour her baby was born but she was not told the gender or allowed to see
it, despite several pleas to do so. Miss Macdonald said
hearing the bishop apologise this week for the way she was treated has gone a
long way in helping to repair some the pain and suffering. It is the first step in
what she hopes will be closure after 42 years. The second step will
come when the apology is put into writing later this month. The woman will
then meet the Church again to discuss a compensation claim, the amount of
which is still unknown. Miss Macdonald said the
bishop was "wonderful" and his apology genuine. "It turned out
one hundred and ten per cent better than I thought it would. The bishop never
interjected. He was wonderful." The chief executive of
the Anglican Trust for Women and Children, Wilson Irons, said the Church had
no way of checking what the three women said about what happened to them at
St Mary's between 1958 and 1965, because all the staff they said had been
involved were dead. But he accepted
practices such as not letting mothers see newborn babies had taken place and
were "abhorrent" by today's standards. "There were a
whole lot of things that happened which, from where we are sitting now
looking back at it, we would shudder, but in those times some of that stuff
was felt to be the best practice," he said. "Some other things
were clearly wrong. "The bishop did
apologise on behalf of the Anglican Church, who ran the St Mary's Hospital
then, for any injury or unjust treatment that the women experienced while
they were here." The hospital closed in
1972. The trust now uses the buildings for a range of social services. |
