Govt sued over alleged child abuse in former Dept of Social Welfare homes

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:40p.m.
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It is being called the biggest case of child abuse in New Zealand – three decades of alleged violence and sexual abuse in children’s homes run by the state.

The Government is being sued over the more than 500 cases of alleged abuse at children’s homes, run by the former Department of Social Welfare.

A 60 Minutes investigation has revealed the abuse happened in the 1960s through till the late 1980s in institutions which were supposed to care for troubled or abandoned children.

Some say what is alleged to have happened to the victims is our country’s greatest shame.

“Everyone time he came in to wake me up he’d either be sucking on my penis or masturbating me, and if I said anything he’d hit me,” said former home resident Brian Wilkinson.

“I wasn’t raped, but I suffered what I consider to be serious sexual assaults,” says another victim, Keith Wiffen who spent time as a young boy in Epuni Boys’ Home.

It was not only sexual abuse – physical abuse is said to have happened daily, and at random.

“Your cell would open up at night time and a couple of boys would run in and give you a hiding,” says another former resident Mark Baker.

“That’s the staff organising that stuff.”

The cases of the abused fill shelves at Sonja Cooper’s law practice.

She says it is the biggest case of child abuse in New Zealand’s history.

“It was essentially in every institution that was run by social welfare and it was pervasive,” she says.

Ms Cooper is representing hundreds of complainants and is calling for a Government level enquiry into what went on in the homes.

“The fact that we represent 500 people is, in my view, just the tip of the iceberg,” she says.

“My calculation is that we are probably only acting for, at present, one percent of the potential victims.”

The Attorney General Chris Finlayson says the Ministry of Social Development already has teams set up to deal with complaints.

“If their claims are shown to have merit, they will get some compensation,” he says.

“That system is working. There is no need for them to go to court.”

Ms Cooper disagrees.

“We have found their process overall to be demeaning, humiliating, long, drawn out.”

So Ms Cooper is taking her clients’ cases to court.

It is estimated half a billion dollars could be paid out by the Crown in compensation – 270 claims have already been filed.

But what the victims want most of all is official recognition, and an apology.

3 News

Ex-police chief arrested for years of child sexual abuse

By:Patricia Phillips

In a shocking case, a former police chief is in jail after confessing to sexually abusing a child for the last eight years--since she was eight years old.

Timothy Boyer was police chief of tiny Wynona from March 17 to June 16, when he resigned. Reports say that during his short tenure, Boyer wasn't popular with the town.

As it turns out, he had a secret: eight years of sexually molesting a young girl, now 16 years old. Boyer voluntarily turned himself in to the Sand Springs police department and admitted the years of abuse. He's in the Tulsa County jail with bond set at $200,000.

He's been charged with rape by instrumentation and lewd molestation of a child under 16. Boyer reportedly told officers that he performed "everything but intercourse" in his sexual acts with the child.

Boyer previously worked in two other Oklahoma police departments, as well as working as a registered nurse. Fox 23 News has more on this bizarre case.

ISPs urged to sign up for child porn filters

By KATARINA FILIPE - The Timaru Herald

A new filtering system to block websites with child sexual abuse images has been applauded by South Canterbury's Presbyterian Support Service.

The filtering system will be made available to internet service providers in a couple of months, though it is up to each ISP whether they sign up to it.

Chief executive Michael Parker said it was common sense for ISPs to join, as the filtering programme would not be necessary if there wasn't a problem with child sexual abuse in New Zealand. "We totally support it. All internet service providers should sign up."

Family Works counsellor Matt Rainey said staff would support anything that reduced child sexual abuse. He urged ISPs to join the filtering programme.

"Internet service providers, don't they have a moral or legal obligation there to not let that stuff past their door?"

Internal Affairs deputy secretary Keith Manch said the filter was a response to calls from the community that the Government and ISPs should do more to provide a safe internet environment.

According to the Internal Affairs, only 42 per cent of offenders who could have been jailed last year for child pornography offences found themselves behind bars.

"It is not a silver bullet that will prevent everyone from accessing any sites that might contain images of child sexual abuse, but it is another important tool in the department's operations to fight the sexual abuse of children."

Anyone trying to access websites offering child sex abuse pictures will receive a screen message saying the site has been blocked because it is illegal. If a site seems wrongly blocked, a user will be able to ask anonymously for the filter to be checked."

The filter was trialled with Ihug, TelstraClear, Watchdog and Maxnet over two years. It filtered out more than 7000 objectionable websites with no noticeable impact on internet performance.

Temuka man Cornelius Baars, 62, was sentenced in the Timaru District Court on March 25 to five months' home detention and 100 hours' community work on two charges of possession of objectionable material, after child pornography was found on his home computer.

On July 9 last year, a Pareora man was jailed in what was described as one of the worst cases in New Zealand, after 250,000 child sex abuse images were found in his possession.

Andrew James Robinson, 33, a freezing worker, was sentenced in the Timaru District Court to four years' imprisonment on two charges of indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl, four charges of making and 40 charges of possessing objectionable material.

Child sexual abuse case ready to proceed to jury trial

ST. GEORGE - An attorney for Anthony Gene Jiron said Wednesday in 5th District Court that his client is ready to proceed to a trial by jury on charges he sexually abused a child in his care.

Jiron entered not guilty pleas to three charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, sodomy on a child and rape of a child on Sept. 16, 2008, and is scheduled for a five-day trial beginning July 27.

Jiron's attorney, Douglas Terry, told Judge James Shumate the case could be given priority for trial but that there is a possibility of negotiating a settlement with the prosecution before the trial date.

Washington County Attorney Brian Filter confirmed that Terry had mentioned the possibility of a resolution but said the case remains on the trial calendar for now.

Shumate gave attorneys until Wednesday to decide if they will be able to resolve the case without a trial.

Jiron is accused of sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl in his care during a week in July 2008.

According to the arrest narrative filed by St. George Police Detective Chris Trani, police were called following an argument between Jiron and another adult about the alleged abuse.

According to the state-ment, Jiron threatened to harm himself with a knife and initially refused police summons to exit the building until he had finished drinking a beer, at which point he allowed himself to be taken into custody.

During an interview with Trani, Jiron admitted sexual behavior with the partially clothed child, the statement said.

However, in an October 2008 letter to the judge, Jiron declared his innocence and said he was intoxicated at the time of his arrest and should not have been questioned in that state and that the alleged victim was already in therapy for sexual abuse at the time of his arrest and that her motives were suspect.