ALLEGED VICTIMS OF ABUSE ACCUSE GOVERNMENT OF BIAS

The Dominion Post
October 11 2004
by Fran Tyler

Former psychiatric patients and social welfare children taking cases against the Crown over alleged abuse have accused the Government of discrimination. 

When news broke of allegations by army cadets that they suffered abuse between the 1950s and 1980s, Defence Minister Mark Burton immediately promised an independent investigation, one of the groups' lawyers, Sonja Cooper, said. 

Her clients are angry that the independent inquiries they asked for have not been ordered and say the Government will not help them because many are still in psychiatric care or in prison. 

It has been more than two years since The Dominion Post revealed the allegations that child patients at Porirua Hospital were subjected to sexual and physical abuse, over medication and use of electroconvulsive shock therapy as a punishment during the 1960s and 1970s. Almost 12 months ago the paper highlighted cases of former state wards who claim they were physically and sexually abused while in Social Welfare homes during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. There are now more than 300 people involved in the psychiatric hospital claims and about 220 in the social welfare case. 

Crown Law has been asked to investigate each claim in the psychiatric hospitals case. There has been no response from Government over the social welfare home claims. 

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Margaret Wilson said it was not a case of discrimination. "There are differences between the two sets of claims and investigations into them have to be tailored accordingly."