State abuse survivor in spying scandal says Govt lawyers set out to vilify him

Saturday, 23 February 2019

A state abuse survivor surveilled by private investigators is 'vindicated' by a report confirming the Crown hired spies, writes Andrea Vance.

As a 10-year-old boy, Keith Wiffin was beaten, sexually abused and psychologically tortured in a state-owned boys' home.

Forty years later, he came forward as a witness to help two brothers who were suing the Ministry of Social Development for abuse they suffered while in the care of the state.

In response, Crown lawyers hired private investigators ICIL to dig up dirt on witnesses and Wiffin, now 59, is certain he was put under surveillance.

'Instead of the Crown taking responsibility for what happened to us, they set out to try and vilify us and cast us in the role of the enemy and it just felt like more abuse,' Wiffin said.

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Keith Wiffin was abused in state care, and was later surveilled when he came forward to give evidence against the Government.

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State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes was head of MSD when witnesses in a state abuse case were spied on.

For years, officials denied witnesses in the landmark White Case were probed. But a State Services Commission (SSC) inquiry into the use of private security consultants, released late last year, uncovered a slew of damning revelations about how Government agencies used spy firms.

And that's prompted Wiffin, a cleaning contractor, to break his silence.

In Wiffin's case, over a period of three weeks, a blue car with two men turned up outside his home in Kilbirnie, Wellington. Neighbours also clocked the strangers, who appeared to be watching Wiffin's movements.

'I noticed I was being watched. I lived in a very small street where anything out-of-the-ordinary was noticed,' Wiffin said.

'Two men, who looked liked detectives, would turn up at random times of the day and just sit and watch.'

Some of the surveillance took place when Wiffin was attending his mother's funeral, in 2007.

'I was in Auckland for five days. When I got back the neighbours told me they had turned up at various times while I was away. That made me angry.'

Wiffin took his concerns to lawyer Sonja Cooper, who has acted for hundreds of victims of abuse in state care, and took the White Case to court on behalf of the brothers.

Lawyer Sonja Cooper began to suspect witnesses in a state abuse case were being investigated.

'It was her opinion that the Crown had indeed hired private investigators in relation to the case,' Wiffin said.

Cooper had already begun to suspect her witnesses were being put under scrutiny. In a newsletter to clients in 2007, she wrote: 'The trial has been a very difficult one. The Crown has, it appears, been determined to win at any cost.

'That has included hiring a private investigator to dig up any information in relation to our clients and witnesses. The private investigator went so far as to approach other family members to give evidence against their siblings. This did not work.'

This week, Wiffin told Stuff: 'We were fairly shocked about it. Witnesses told us they were approached by a private investigator, we certainly didn't hear about it from the Crown.

'They were also trying to get [witnesses] criminal records from Corrections, bypassing their privacy rights - even though they didn't have an information sharing agreement [with Corrections].'

Cooper and Wiffin gave evidence to the SSC's inquiry - which found widespread abuse of private spies across the public service.

A spokeswoman for Crown Law, who was acting for the Social Development Ministry (MSD), admitted the conduct fell short of Solicitor-General's expectations.

'We have no evidence that close observation or surveillance was done in respect of Mr Wiffin but we accept the inquiry's findings that, while definitive findings on Mr Wiffin's allegation are not possible, the Crown's litigation team's instructions to investigators was overly broad.'

The SSC's inquiry report said Wiffin was a 'credible witness' and that both agencies had breached a public service code of conduct.

'There were indications in the file that the investigators did use techniques involving low-level surveillance, or something close to it, together with a covert approach for at least one person of interest.'

At the time, the MSD's boss was Peter Hughes, who is now head of all state services. The State Services Commission did not respond to a request for comment.

Wiffin was eventually paid $20,000 by MSD and received a written apology from two senior officials for the abuse he suffered during two stints at Epuni Boys' Home in Wellington.

But he's still angry that MSD officials previously insisted he wasn't placed under investigation.

'I feel angry that it happened but vindicated by the report. Probably the most disappointing thing for me personally, was that I put it to a senior manager of MSD that this had happened and she totally denied it.'

A separate royal commission of inquiry into abuse in state care, ordered by the Government in response to hundreds of allegations, was initially due to begin in January 2019, but has since been widened to include religious institutions.

Some abuse survivors have complained that sensitive details they've shared with the inquiry have been lost.

ICIL, which was sold in 2009, was paid $90,000 for its work on the White Case. Crown Law also used private security firms in two other cases, including to interview and brief witnesses and prepare their evidence.

It continues to use private security consultants to serve documents and subpoenas.