A Flaxmere man tortured as a child at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital is taking the Crown to court, arguing its redress framework is unlawful.
Malcolm Richards will file a claim in the High Court at Wellington later this morning, seeking a judicial review of Cabinet’s redress decision.
Those tortured at the Manawatū psychiatric facility had until last week to choose a rapid payment of $150,000 or head to arbitration.
The redress scheme only applies to survivors who are still alive that had been subjected to electric shocks and/or paraldehyde injections.
Some have already welcomed the money, but Richards has refused the redress on principle.
“No way I’m taking part in it because it’s not legal. We can’t allow the perpetrator of this crime, which is the government, to set their own sentence.”
Richards was 15-years-old when he went to Lake Alice and said he still lived with the impacts of being drugged, raped, beaten and shocked all over his body.
He was the second survivor to successfully argue his case at the United Nations committee that urged the New Zealand government to compensate him.
Richards believes December’s redress package breaches Article 14 of the United Nations’ Torture Convention, which New Zealand ratified in 1989.
This article states each country must ensure in its legal system that victims of torture obtain redress and have an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible.
It also states that if a victim of torture dies, their dependants are entitled to compensation.
Richards’ lawyer Chris Griggs said Cabinet’s redress decision hasn’t been legislated, excludes survivors who were tortured by means other than shocks and injections and provides ex-gratia compensation that can’t be enforced or effectively challenged in court.
New Zealand ratified the Convention against Torture in 1989 but with a reservation, that the government reserves the right to award compensation to torture victims only at the discretion of the Attorney-General of New Zealand.
The government has said New Zealand is the first country in the world to acknowledge torture of children and provide compensation to recognise their suffering.
‘It’s the perpetrator deciding what their punishment will be’
Griggs said the case was a simple one that boiled down to the government needing to comply with international human rights laws.
“A lot of survivors are telling me what’s happening is like a serious crime has been committed by the government so the government goes into a room with the victim and tells them this is what the penalty will be and no correspondence will be entered into.
“That’s not justice. So we’re challenging it.”
Griggs said he would be asking the court to essentially “quash” Cabinet’s decision and declare the government needed to comply with international minimum standards.
While the United Nations didn’t have any teeth by way of enforcing these standards, Griggs said it was New Zealand’s reputation on the line.
“New Zealand holds itself out to be a champion of human rights. We’re a defender of human rights. We’re the first country to speak out on breaches of human rights standards overseas.
“And yet, when it comes to our own country, what do we do? We don’t comply with the International minimum standards for remedying torture.”
“I have heard stories of children being lined up against a wall with their backs to the staff and having syringes full of paraldehyde thrown at their bottoms like a dartboard. That happened in this country.
“We have to take a stand. New Zealand must live up to what happened and the only way we can do that is by complying with the international minimum standards laid down by the Torture Convention.”
Griggs has drafted a bill to set up an independent tribunal to assess torture claims and compensation and says there’s already precedent for this type of arrangement.
“You might remember many years ago we had a big problem in New Zealand with leaky buildings, so the government set up the water weathertight homes tribunal to deal with that problem.
“Here we have a situation where the government has tortured a whole bunch of New Zealanders over a number of years and international law requires there to be an equivalent process.
“All we’re saying is just treat the survivors of Lake Alice and the other institutions in New Zealand where people have been tortured in the same way you’ve treated people who’ve had problems with the weather tightness of their homes. It’s not a big ask.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report no amount of money could make up for what survivors endured.
“Their stories of abuse were harrowing and heartbreaking. Obviously the UN made a determination on Lake Alice quite rightly around torture, we’ve worked hard to make sure we’ve put in place a redress system to make sure people are compensated for that.
“Whatever we do, no amount of money frankly makes up for what survivors have endured.”
The government’s focus was on making sure it acknowledged and formally apologised, supported survivors with a better redress system and prevent abuse through improving the operating practices of key government agencies, Luxon said.
‘What’s the point of taking $150,000 and living with this’
Richards has taken up woodworking in his shed as a means of coping with stress and trauma, creating wooden trinkets he sells online.
“It’s just what I found that I can lose myself in and when things become too much, I just go out to my shed and start cutting out stuff and making stuff.”
He does not see the point in taking the rapid payment that has been offered by the Crown.
“[The Minister responsible Erica Stanford] rang me before she made that announcement and I told her no way I’m taking part in it because it’s not legal. We can’t allow the perpetrator of this crime, which is the government, to set their own sentence,” Richards said.
“What’s the point of taking $150,000 and living with this… it gets so much for me that I’ve gotta go out and lock myself in the shed away from my family.”
Richards said he had been trying to access support through ACC for special items like screwing teeth — normal dentures give him flashbacks to being gagged at Lake Alice — and a phone plan — he is forgetful and uses his phone to remind him about appointments and medications.
But challenging the Crown’s redress was about more than just money, he said.
“There’s more to this than $150,000 cash, the rehab is just as important. The investigation is the most important thing.”
The Lake Alice redress scheme is separate from Cabinet decisions about the wider redress system for those abused in state care.
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