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
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1 comment:
I'm part of this claim at the moment. What the Legal Aid people are doing is denying legal aid to plaintiffs based on their claim that the cases are unlikely to be won. In my case they can't do this becuase my abuser was arrested and convicted with photos of me in his possession. The cops came to my house with these photos - I'll never forget my mothers screams of Why? Why? Why? while she was smashing her head on the wodden floor of our state home. To date legal aid has denied me legal aid because I declared money in the bank. I am unemployed and don't collect any welfare so I need this money to live off. Basically, the reality of this story is that I really don't think many of us will see any form of justice from the NZ Gov. Sonja Cooper has told me that I can sue for a down payment of $1000 but in one recent case where a plaintiff was awarded $10,000 NZD (wow!!!) the entire payout went to lawyers fee. This poor lady was happy that justice had finally been served. I feel very sorry for her if she thinks that is justice (what an injust life she must have had).
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