Police briefing for Lake Alice survivors
Police are nearing the end of their latest investigation into allegations of torture at a notorious psychiatric unit, and have written to survivors of the institution inviting them to a series of meetings.
A letter from Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald says police expect to inform survivors of the Lake Alice child and adolescent unit about the outcome of their investigation early next month.
Police in February last year launched a new probe into allegations of torture, including physical and sexual assault, at the unit, which ran from 1972-78 near the Rangitı¯kei town of Marton.
And for the past fortnight the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care has focused on the unit, hearing harrowing tales of abuse. These include the unlawful use of electroconvulsive therapy for punishment, psychiatrist Dr Selwyn Leeks and other staff members giving patients drugs, and sexual assaults committed by Leeks and adult patients on children and teens.
In his letter Fitzgerald said he was giving survivors ‘‘advanced warning’’ about an invitation for them and family members to attend private meetings to hear if charges would be laid.
Fitzgerald, the police director of criminal investigations, will answer questions and talk about the investigation.
‘‘It is my view that you, as the victims, have the right to hear first what the outcome of the investigation is,’’ he said.
They’ve been asked to RSVP by tomorrow.
Previous police investigations took place in 1977-78 and from 2002-10, but no charges were laid. The latest look at the case, Fitzgerald said, was ‘‘full, comprehensive and thorough’’.
He apologised for the length of time it was taking, but said police were close to finishing.
At the royal commission last week, Fitzgerald apologised for failings in the previous investigation in the 2000s.
This included police losing 14 or 15 of the 35 statements compiled and passed to them by lawyer Grant Cameron, who led a class action. Only one survivor was interviewed.
Survivors spoken to by the Sunday Star-Times said they were keen to attend the meetings to hear from Fitzgerald, although they didn’t hold high hopes of Leeks or other Lake Alice staff being charged.
The royal commission has heard Leeks, who lives in Australia, is 92 and suffers from a range of serious health problems.
Malcolm Richards was sent to Lake Alice for two months in late 1975 as a 15-year-old. He told the royal commission he was pumped full of drugs, subjected to electric shocks and suspected he was raped.
He was keen to attend the meetings.
‘‘I don’t see why they can’t charge [Leeks], even if he’s unable to stand trial,’’ Richards said. ‘‘They can’t say there’s not enough evidence.’’
He was concerned that if charges weren’t laid, compensation claims wouldn’t advance because no-one had been found guilty.
Richards has made a complaint to the UN’s Committee against Torture. The complaint was on hold pending the outcome of the police investigation and royal commission.
A complaint from fellow survivor Paul Zentveld was upheld last year and the committee urged the Government to investigate allegations of torture at Lake Alice.
Cameron gave evidence at the royal commission, saying he was told in 2005, three years after his files were passed to police, that no disclosed activity or intervention with patients by Leeks at Lake Alice amounted to criminal offending.
He said there was evidence to indicate serious offending, ‘‘suggesting systematic torture of children’’.
Cameron could not comment on the quality of the police investigation after the complaints were lodged, because he never heard anything.
‘‘Only after this royal commission commenced its inquiry did I hear further from the police.’’
‘‘I don’t see why they can’t charge [Leeks], even if he’s unable to stand trial. They can’t say there’s not enough evidence.’’ Malcolm Richards