Abuse in care survivors rocked by lack of apology
AUCKLAND: Survivors of abuse in state care are bitterly disappointed the Solicitorgeneral has not apologised for the way Crown lawyers treated them during lengthy court battles over compensation.
Solicitorgeneral Una Jagose QC spent three days last week giving evidence at the Abuse in Care inquiry in Auckland, telling the commissioners she was there to explain the Crown’s role but not necessarily to defend it.
The royal commission is continuing its hearing in Auckland into the processes around redress for people abused and neglected in state care.
Survivors of abuse have repeatedly told the inquiry they were retraumatised by what some called the Crown’s brutal approach to litigation.
Leonie McInroe spent 18 months in the adolescent unit at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital between 1975 and 1977.
During that time she was given massive doses of medication and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
Ms McInroe was disappointed with the Solicitorgeneral’s evidence and felt it was dismissive of concern over the way Crown Law approached her case.
‘‘The tactics that she’s renamed litigation steps is quite interesting, but I fully stand by my claims of the obstruction of justice.’’
She said Crown Law’s treatment of her during the nineyear litigation process was abhorrent and abusive, and included having a forensic psychiatric examination and having her private diaries taken.
She felt Ms Jagose dismissed and brushed over that.
‘‘I feel like, yet again, the opportunity for the Crown and the Solicitorgeneral on behalf of that Crown to apologise and say ‘you know what? We did some things dreadfully wrong’, is remiss — it wasn’t there.’’
Paul Zentveld, another survivor of Lake Alice, wants Ms Jagose replaced.
‘‘The evidence is pretty shocking about how they fought Winston Churchillstyle when they were going to defend against me, but later on they abandoned the appeal on my court case.
‘‘It is all about the way they treat people. It is not about just me, it’s about all the survivors. We have been put through hell.’’
Keith Wiffin was sexually and physically abused at the Epuni Boys’ Home in the 1970s.
While he respects the Solicitorgeneral’s knowledge of the law, that is where it ends for him.
‘‘In terms of the law she knows her apples, but does that mean I trust her — no it doesn’t. From what I have seen there is a lot of minimising going on; there’s a lot of abdicating responsibility, passing the buck.’’
He said the buck must stop with her and she must be held to account. He said a full apology might go some way towards that.
The Citizens Commission for Human Rights, a mental health organisation established by the Church of Scientology, is observing the Abuse in Care inquiry.
Its director, Mike Ferriss, said he would have liked to hear a full apology from the Solicitorgeneral and believed she was hedging during her evidence to the royal commission.
‘‘She should be representing her office in a more professional way instead of saying ‘I can’t remember because I wasn’t there’. Not enough background research into the operation of her own office, especially around the Lake Alice cases.’’
Mr Ferriss said an apology from someone such as the Solicitorgeneral would mean a lot for survivors.
Ms Jagose was approached for comment.
A written response from her office said: ‘‘The Solicitorgeneral was grateful for the opportunity to speak about these matters to the royal commission when she gave evidence in public for three days this week. She will not be making any further public comment in the media while the royal commission is considering these matters.’’