LAKE ALICE PAYOUT EXPLAINED

LAKE ALICE NZ PAYOUT EXPLAINED

What might not be widely known was that there was $132 million liability fund set aside in the NZ Government Budget, just to deal with the Lake Alice cases; of which they settled outside of court, without trial or hearing or precedents or legal liability of ill-treatment and torture, for $6.5 million  the original claim was for $550,000 for each victim   The payouts were also ex gratis,  compensation and merely settling an out of court civil action against the Government. Not compensation because to be that you must admit wrongdoing and have Accountability of the perpetrators no one has ever been charged for.  The ill-treatment and torture and it has never been addressed, which is one common thread expressed by the victims, which would help them gain some closure of what happened. The ex gratia payouts to the first group of 95 victims needed to pay legal fees which were deducted from their payouts. These amounted to approximately 40% of the determined so-called “compensation”. When it was realised there were more victims of the abuses, the second group of individuals did not have to pay the legal fees, as the Government said it would take care of their fees. This set up an unfair disadvantage with the first group. The Government then decided to take a 30% deduction from the second group, however this was illegal, causing more upset. CCHR supported one of the victims to secure the balance of the agreed payout, which took four years, costly lawyers and expensive trips to Wellington from Auckland. (See article below) Even after the court adjudicated the Government should pay up, it took going to the media to run a damning story before they finally furnished the balance. This was estimated to be around $2 million wrongfully withheld across all the victims in the second round.

this does not factor in the 40 to 60% legal fees taken out of the first round and the NZ government has not done anything to correct this like they did for the second group. A number of victims and CCHR believe the first group has been unfairly treated with the deductions of the legal fees from their payouts, and feel the government should rectify this, balancing the payouts at the very least. and the @NZNationalParty have continued to fight to stop this and our access to rehab at the @UN to this day wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on lawyers that could have settled this fight for justice
$20 million and climbing and another election now @NZLabour back in and decided to fight on when they received an official case of torture against the state from the @UN https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/12/un-involved-in-manawatu-abuse-investigation.html

The settlement process in the Lake Alice cases provides some redress, though the State is careful to say the money given is not compensation/ BUT when you try to claim ACC they say we can not help you there as you have been compensated for that as a full and final settlement so would you members of the press stop saying we have been paid compensation because we have not YET 

what happened in short   

Boys were taken from the lounge area to an upstairs side-room which was dark, shuttered… Sometimes this would be done forcibly. Inside the room Dr Leeks would administer electric shocks to various parts of the boy’s body over a period of 20 mins. An airway shaped like a mouth gag, was placed in the boy’s mouth for him to bite on whilst the shocks were administered. The ECT machine was unusual in that it had a twist regulator on it, with which the operator could vary the intensity and the timing of the shock. During this time Dr. Leeks would maintain a reprimanding-type monologue, whilst the boy was held down by the Nurses. At the end of the time Dr. Leeks would give a full unmodified ECT rendering the boy unconscious. The boy would then be taken to a dormitory area, placed on a bed and left alone to recover.”