News & Events

Police are reviewing more adult sexual assault and child protection investigations, RNZ can reveal. They are separate to the more than 50 cases of child protection complaints and adult sexual assaults re-opened after concerns were raised in May about Detective Inspector Kevan Verry’s handling of a historical case in Northland. Assistant Commissioner Investigations Corrie Parnell…

Last month’s announcement that the Catholic order was about to go broke wreaked carnage everywhere I looked. Lives have been thrown into turmoil. Early last month, Peter* had some welcome news. The Christian Brothers had agreed to settle. The Catholic order was going to compensate him for his horrific abuse at the hands of a…

Nearly two years after Whanaketia, the Royal Commission’s final report into Abuse in Care, Ruwhiu says survivors are still waiting for meaningful change, redress and recognition beyond Lake Alice. Nearly two years after the release of Whanaketia, the landmark Royal Commission into Abuse in Care report, survivor Frances Ruwhiu says the promises made to thousands…

A survivor of torture at the notorious Lake Alice child and adolescent unit was forced to live in his house bus in a public car park after his accommodation supplement was wrongly cancelled. This meant Paul Zentveld, who has a King’s Service Medal for services to survivors of abuse in care, couldn’t pay his rent.…

Police files were supposed to pass through layers of checks and balances. Now 54 sexual assault and child abuse cases are being investigated again, leaving victims to trust the system a second time, while police face questions about why their checks failed. Paula Penfold reports. Danni Nicholson was trying to take three days off work…

Former Prime Minister Bill English once hailed a charity as a rare success in reducing youth reoffending in South Auckland. That charity, Genesis Youth Trust, has now closed after failing to secure more Government funding. A young Papakura woman had 42 criminal offences against her name by her mid-teens, including assault, dishonesty and family harm.…

Police have reopened 54 adult sexual assault and child abuse investigations after concerns about one senior officer triggered a review of close to 1,000 files. The long-serving senior officer now faces an employment process. Following questions from Stuff, police have confirmed that concerns were raised in May this year about the officer’s management of one…

Eight years after she first sought help, Kristy Wilson has finally won weekly compensation for the childhood sexual abuse she suffered. But her case has highlighted a disputed new ACC approach that denies some survivors the payment – because ACC says they suffered their mental injury before they were earning an income. On a Monday…

For decades, a small group of specialists at Starship Hospital’s child protection unit have played a central role in some of NZ’s most serious physical child abuse cases. Their opinions trigger police investigations, child removals, criminal prosecutions and prison sentences. In many cases, their medical findings are treated as the starting point for everything that…

An abuse survivor feels as if he has been stabbed with a “sharp, long, bladed knife to the back” after his trial was aborted at the 11th hour due to an unprecedented legal tactic by the Christian Brothers. Last week, the Christian Brothers sought a permanent halt to hundreds of cases lodged by survivors of…