State care robbed me of a life
A man says he was raped more than 200 times by other boys in less than a year at a state-run boys’ home.
Toni Jarvis, 59, 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.
He spent time in multiple institutions, including Cherry Farm in Dunedin, Hokio Beach School in Horowhenua, and a family home in Levin.
He told the inquiry how his adoptive father in Invercargill would beat him, until his school principal notified Social Welfare.
Jarvis was put in various placements before moving at age 9 to Cherry Farm, an adult psychiatric facility in Dunedin.
He was thrown into a communal room on the first day, where a man shuffled towards him, with his pyjamas around his ankles, eating faeces from his hands. Jarvis said the man rubbed it in his face and screamed. Another patient was masturbating and ejaculated on him.
The staff medicated Jarvis regularly with antipsychotic drugs, despite there having been no mental health diagnosis.
He was sexually abused by other patients, often when he went to the toilet.
Jarvis was transferred to Hokio Beach School in Horowhenua. He was there less than a year, but he said it felt like an eternity. The abuse was opportunistic during the day, and routine at night in between the night watchman’s checks. He was often raped four to five times a night by different boys.
Jarvis initially fought back, but that hurt more. He learnt to relax to make it easier for them to abuse him so he could survive.
‘‘I got a lot of hidings while at Hokio from older boys, but it was nothing compared to the rape. I had already been conditioned by my father for the hidings.’’
He was then sent to the Awatea Street Family Home in Levin, which was initially a good experience.
But after six months his main abuser from Hokio Beach School also moved in and his life ‘‘turned to hell again’’.
Abuse, from staff and fellow boys, continued at the Holdsworth Boys’ Home in Whanganui and at Invercargill Borstal, where he was sent for stealing cars.
Jarvis said state care had affected his mental health and his ability to get a job. He depended on alcohol to cope.
He now has diverticulitis – an infection of the intestines – as well as bowel issues, obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung diseases from being forced to smoke cigarettes.
Jarvis had taken a claim against the social welfare agencies and received a total of $38,000.
He would like an apology from the Crown, as an admission of fault and a starting point for moving forward. ‘‘I believe it is time for the state to be honest, stop the lies and deceit. I’ve spent 44 years of my life looking for justice and answers,’’ he said.
‘‘The state has robbed both me and my children of a life.’’