Manawatu Standard
July 25 2006
by Mervyn Dykes
July 25 2006
by Mervyn Dykes
Former patients of Lake Alice psychiatric hospital who suffered abuse from staff in the 1970s are being urged to join an extradition call against a former head of the unit.
"We are calling one final time for the children of Lake Alice to come forward," said the chief executive of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, Steve Green, last night.
While acknowledging that it will be difficult for many to go public, he said the commission will support them in bringing criminal charges against the abusers.
Manawatu woman Sharyn Collis, one of those claiming to have undergone "sadistic experiments" at Lake Alice, also wants Selwyn Leeks, now in his 70s, brought back from Melbourne where he has been practising for several years.
"Bring him home," she said yesterday. "Let the police have access to the material the Australians have. Let him face criminal charges."
Dr Leeks was to have faced 16 charges of unprofessional conduct at a hearing before the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria in Melbourne this week.
However, he relinquished his medical licence, effectively doing away with the need for the hearing.
His summons would have capped a five-year investigation of complaints by 50 former patients - 16 of whom are thought to have cases he could be brought to answer.
Ms Collis, who was admitted to Lake Alice at the age of 14, said electro-convulsive therapy - electric shock treatment - was used on children when they were both sedated and awake.
"It was 1000 times worse than an electric fence," she said.
"They used it as a punishment, and we were also punished by having to clean up the vomit and urine left by those who had been given shocks."
Children were often punished by being shut in a huge dryer room that became so hot they usually passed out in 10 to 15 minutes, she said.
Boys sometimes had their genitals subjected to electric shocks.
Children were frequently given drugs that caused several localised pain.
"I was not crazy when I went in, but I think I might have been when I came out," she said.
She and other patients were still troubled by what they had experienced as children and some were dysfunctional, suicidal and in and out of jail.
In her own case, she turned to drugs at one point in an attempt to make sense of what had happened to her.
Mr Green described what was done to the children as severely abusive.
"It was horrific," he said. "It makes me think of Nazi Germany. Those little kids had no rights whatsoever and had to take whatever was done to them.
"What they experienced doesn't fit into medicine or psychiatry in any way."
They had experienced what amounted to medical assaults or criminal activity, he said, and if people come forward with their evidence criminal charges can be brought.
"Until that happens they won't be able to find closure."
In 2001, Prime Minister Helen Clark apologised to 100 former patients for the way they were treated at Lake Alice.
Later, a second group was included and the Government paid out $10.7 million in compensation to a total of 183 people.
Mr Green and Ms Collis both considered this action an admission that abuses took place.
"If only those came forward who received payouts, there would be sufficient evidence for criminal charges to be brought," Mr Green said.
At present, 34 cases have been prepared in New Zealand. An estimated 400 passed through Lake Alice during the 1970s.
"Anyone who now feels they can speak out about what happened to them can call us at 0800 777-555," he said.
The adolescent unit of Lake Alice closed in 1978 and Dr Leeks went overseas to Canada and Australia.
Relinquishing his licence to practice medicine has now made it difficult for him to practice elswhere. He will need a certificate of good standing from the Victorian Board in order to even be considered.
A criminal inquiry into what went on at Lake Alice is being headed by Christchurch Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess.
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