State care mademe a monster
A man says he was beaten black and blue and urinated on while sleeping during his time at a state-run boys’ home.
Daniel Rei, 47, is one of 16 survivors giving evidence to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care over the next two weeks at public hearings in Auckland.
Rei was in state care for four years at a family home in New Plymouth, Hamilton Boys’ Home and the Kohitere Boys’ Training Centre in Levin.
The experiences he endured would go on to shape his perception of violence and his own violent behaviour.
His behaviour became aggressive after he experienced racism at school in Taranaki, and after he was sexually abused by his uncle at 8 years old. So his mother contacted the Department of Social Welfare.
In December 1986 he was admitted to the Rosendale Family Home, where he became involved in sexual activity and started sniffing glue daily, smoking cigarettes and cannabis, and taking benzodiazepines.
He was admitted to Hamilton Boys’ Home after committing burglaries. He was not there long and ran away as often as he could.
As punishment for running away, he was put in what looked like a storage cupboard – with nothing but a built-in seat.
‘‘I had to urinate and defecate in the corner and sleep inmy own waste . . . I assumed other boys had been in there and had to do the same thing.’’
Rei was then sent to the Kohitere Boys’ Training Centre in Levin for two years. One night he was woken in the dormitory by what felt like 10 boys beating him. ‘‘It was like a nightmare. I just curled myself up and lay
‘‘I had a casual attitude towards violence that I learnt from the boys’ homes. Those places turned me into a monster.’’ Daniel Rei
there, covered in blood. I was in a lot of pain.’’ He woke later to find two boys urinating on him.
Rei said new kids were beaten the worst, and older boys would defecate in his bed.
‘‘They all thought it was funny ... One time I even awoke to find a boy ejaculating on me.’’
Rei said he twice tried to tell staff about the violence. But a female staff member beat him, and a male staff member told the boys to beat him for ‘‘narking’’.
He also witnessed beatings and sexual abuse at the hands of staff and other boys, while staff members provoked it or stood by.
He spent over two-thirds of his time in the secure unit for bad
behaviour or running away, and would have to perform excessive physical training twice a day. Rei only completed a few days of schooling and taught himself to read and write.
Since his discharge from state care in 1990 Rei had been in and out of prison, for a total of 18 years.
He joined Black Power at 16 years old and had since been convicted of property and violent offences. Rei admitted to shooting a man in Woodville in 2016, but pleaded self-defence and was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.
‘‘It was like I was not even alive. I had a casual attitude towards violence that I learnt from the boys’ homes. Those places turned me into a monster.’’
He was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, socialised disorder of conduct, antisocial personality disorder, poly-substance abuse and dependence and generalised anxiety disorder.
He also suffers from insomnia and seizures from repetitive brain injuries.
‘‘I feel as if there are two Daniels. The first Daniel, who I never wanted to be, is broody, dark, socially isolated, and sometimes violent. The other Daniel is lighthearted, cracks jokes, [is] smart and accomplished,’’ he said.
‘‘I wish I was always the second Daniel, but I have to live with the two sides of me because of the abuse I suffered in care.’’ Rei said he was speaking at the inquiry for justice and to stop other children suffering like he did.
Rei is now a qualified commercial painter, and he has a diploma in oenology, which is chemical engineering for winemaking.
The Kohitere Boys’ Training Centre was closed down in 1990.