Abuse in care case: Prosecutor says men should be believed despite past

Prosecutor Charlie Piho.
Photograph: RNZ/Calvin Samuel

Content warning: This story discusses abuse.

A Crown prosecutor told the court the seven men with checkered pasts had not made up the allegations. Abused as a child in a care home in South Auckland.

A state home for troubled and vulnerable boys in a rundown part of the former Kingseat psychiatric hospital was the scene of abuse for almost a decade in the mid-2000s, the Crown alleges.

The home was managed by the Tirohonga Hou Mo Nga Rangitahi Charitable Trust and two former staff, a man and a woman, are on trial.

None of the defendants or complainants can be named and not many details about the case can be given for legal reasons.

In his closing address to the five-week trial in Manukau District Court, prosecutor Charlie Piho told jurors that the seven then-male men should not be overlooked because they later fell foul of the law.

Two of the men gave evidence from prison and all had previous convictions.

“These are people with checkered pasts, the guys you think they are, but they never shied away from their history… they owned it,” Piho said.

“The defense at times seemed to suggest that these men could not be believed because of these backgrounds,” he said.

“I don’t think these histories tell you much about whether the men were telling the truth in this case.”

The seven boys were aged between 6 and 17 when they were sent to the boys’ home by court order at different times between 2005 and 2014.

Piho said the alleged abuse escalated to sexual and physical levels, with one teenager being forced to have sex with a woman multiple times, and once she refused, he urinated on her, and the boys were punched, tied up or forced to take off their clothes. punishment for not doing as told.

He said the woman claimed she was not working at the men’s home at the time, but employment records showed she was a caregiver.

Piho said the state care facility had a culture of bullying, was “unstructured and unprofessional”, and rooms were “cold and basic”, with food rationed and boys going hungry.

“What appeared to outsiders was very different from what some of the staff did to some of the children there.”

During the hearing, defense attorneys for the two defendants argued that the defendants were fabricating the allegations and that some were motivated by the possibility of compensation.

Oliver Troon, lawyer.
Photograph: RNZ/Calvin Samuel

Piho said that was not the case.

“You heard about them, men who until this hearing had been relegated to the margins of our society, whose experiences at the foundation had been ignored.”

He said children in state care had little support network so the alleged abuse went unnoticed.

Last year, police arrested four people, two men and two women, following a two-year investigation following a complaint by Oranga Tamariki. One of the women did not appear at the hearing.

At the opening of the hearing, three former employees of the house did not accept the numerous accusations against them.

One of the men has since denied all charges against him.

The woman denied two of the seven charges against her, and the other man denied three of the 10 charges against him.

The case started with 10 complainants and ended with 7 complainants.

Earlier, defense lawyers for the defendants said their clients denied allegations of misconduct and asked the jury to consider the credibility of the complainants.

Attorney Oliver Troon represents the man on trial and urged jurors to consider the case impartially.

“Such allegations concerning history and the state inherently arouse sympathy and/or prejudice. You should not foster these feelings.”

Attorney Susan Gray.
Photograph: RNZ/Calvin Samuel

Lawyer Susan Gray represented the woman on trial and questioned the credibility of the complainants.

“They have to be honest and trustworthy. The Crown case is based on you being satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the complainants they will call are both honest and trustworthy.

“For reasons that will become clear during the trial… I say it is not so. They are not truthful, they have a very distant relationship with the truth.”

The defense will close on Thursday.

Where to get help:

If it is an emergency and you think you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Safe to talk: 24/7 confidential helpline for survivors, supporters, and those engaging in harmful sexual behavior: 0800044334

Surviving Male Aotearoa

Men and Trauma New Zealand: 0800 636 263

If you are abused, remember that it is not your fault.

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