Govt unleashed spies on victim
A state abuse survivor monitored by private investigators is ‘‘vindicated’’ by a report confirming the Crown hired spies, writes Andrea Vance.
As a 10-year-old boy, Keith Wiffin was beaten, sexually abused and psychologically tortured in a state-owned boys’ home.
Forty years later, he came forward as a witness to help two brothers who were suing the Ministry of Social Development for abuse they suffered while in the care of the state.
In response, Crown lawyers hired private investigators ICIL to dig up dirt on witnesses and Wiffin, now 59, is certain he was put under surveillance.
‘‘Instead of the Crown taking responsibility for what happened to us, they set out to try and vilify us and cast us in the role of the enemy and it just felt like more abuse,’’ Wiffin said.
For years, officials denied witnesses in the landmark White Case were probed. But a State Services Commission inquiry into the use of private security consultants, released late last year, uncovered a slew of damning revelations about how government agencies used spy firms.
And that’s prompted Wiffin, a cleaning contractor, to break his silence.
In his case, a blue car with two men turned up outside his home in Kilbirnie, Wellington, over a period of three weeks. Neighbours also clocked the strangers, who appeared to be watching Wiffin’s movements.
‘‘I noticed I was being watched. I lived in a very small street where anything out of the ordinary was noticed,’’ he said.
‘‘Two men, who looked liked detectives, would turn up at random times of the day and just sit and watch.’’
Some of the surveillance took place when Wiffin was attending his mother’s funeral, in 2007.
‘‘I was in Auckland for five days. When I got back the neighbours told me they had turned up at various times while I was away. That made me angry.’’
Wiffin took his concerns to lawyer Sonja Cooper, who has acted for hundreds of victims of abuse in state care, and took the White Case to court on behalf of the brothers.
‘‘It was her opinion that the Crown had indeed hired private investigators in relation to the case,’’ Wiffin said.
Cooper had already begun to suspect her witnesses were being put under scrutiny. In a newsletter to clients in 2007, she wrote:
‘‘Two men, who looked liked detectives, would turn up at random times of the day and just sit and watch.’’ Keith Wiffin
‘‘The trial has been a very difficult one. The Crown has, it appears, been determined to win at any cost.
‘‘That has included hiring a private investigator to dig up any information in relation to our clients and witnesses.
‘‘The private investigator went so far as to approach other family members to give evidence against their siblings. This did not work.’’
This week, Wiffin told the Sunday Star-Times: ‘‘We were fairly shocked about it. Witnesses told us they were approached by a private investigator, we certainly didn’t hear about it from the Crown.
‘‘They were also trying to get [witnesses’] criminal records from Corrections, bypassing their privacy rights – even though they didn’t have an informationsharing agreement [with Corrections].’’
Cooper and Wiffin gave evidence to the commission’s inquiry – which found widespread abuse of private spies across the public service.
A spokeswoman for Crown Law, who was acting for the ministry, admitted the conduct fell short of the Solicitor-General’s expectations.
‘‘We have no evidence that close observation or surveillance was done in respect of Mr Wiffin but we accept the inquiry’s findings that, while definitive findings on Mr Wiffin’s allegation are not possible, the Crown’s litigation team’s instructions to investigators was overly broad.’’
The commission’s inquiry report said Wiffin was a ‘‘credible witness’’ and the file showed evidence of surveillance. Government agencies had breached a public service code of conduct.
At the time, the ministry’s boss was Peter Hughes, who is now head of all state services.
The commission did not respond to a request for comment.
Wiffin was eventually paid $20,000 by the ministry and received a written apology from two senior officials for the abuse he suffered during two stints at Epuni Boys’ Home in Wellington.
But he’s still angry that ministry officials had insisted he wasn’t investigated.
‘‘I feel angry that it happened but vindicated by the report. Probably the most disappointing thing for me personally, was that I put it to a senior manager of MSD that this had happened and she totally denied it.’’
ICIL, which was sold in 2009, was paid $90,000 for its work on the White Case.
‘‘I feel angry that it happened but vindicated by the report.’’ Keith Wiffin