Accessible News

Top storiesNew ZealandPoliticsBusinessEntertainmentSportsWorld

Abuse in care: Pasifika boys were treated worse than Pākehā, survivor says

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Billy Puka Tanu spoke to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in order to help other survivors and victims like him.

Billy Puka Tanu spent his childhood abused in the arms of the state. But talking about his experience this week has made him feel “20kg lighter.”

From age 9 to 16 he lived in and out of state homes and had barely any schooling. Tanu says he taught himself to read as a 20-year-old in prison, and enrolled in polytechnic courses in construction on his release.

But it wasn’t always enough.

Billy Puka Tanu was just 9 when he was taken into state care.
Billy Puka Tanu was just 9 when he was taken into state care.

“The only time I get jobs is when they don't check my history,” he said.

**READ MORE:

* 'Structural racism': Adoption cut off abuse survivor from her culture

Tanu’s story was heard at the abuse in care hearing.
Tanu’s story was heard at the abuse in care hearing.

* Abuse in care: 'What happened to him was horrifying' - Wesley College apologises

* Abuse in care: Boys' home watchman quit over beatings witnessed

**

“I think my abuse in care is a big part of the reason why my life turned out the way it has.”

Tanu was speaking during the Pacific-focused hearing of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, on this week at the Fale o Samoa in south Auckland's Māngere.

Sharing his experience means more to him than any compensation he might get pursuing a claim against the Ministry of Social Development or the Salvation Army, which he is also doing.

“After all these years, it's my turn to talk. I've waited 30 years for this,” he said. “I want to tell them face to face what they put me through.”

Tanu grew up in a violent, poor home. He turned to crime early on and his parents handed him over to the state.

He moved through Epuni Boys’ Home, Arbor House, Ōwairaka Boys’ Home, Hamilton Boys’ Home and Hodderville Boys’ Home.

The hearing will run for the rest of the week, finishing on Friday.
The hearing will run for the rest of the week, finishing on Friday.

Each were as violent as the one before it, staffed by neglectful adults turning a blind eye to abuse among the children, he said.

By the time he left, Tanu had been raped, beaten, and psychologically abused by staff and other children.

“The boys would say things like, ‘if you don't do what I say or if you say something to anyone you're dead’, or ‘I'll stab you with a fork from the kitchen’,” he said.

He believes Māori and Pasifika children were worse off in state care than their Pākehā peers.

“The white boys always got more aroha, attention and praise. The brown boys would never be rewarded or even acknowledged for anything we did right,” he said of his time at Hodderville, which was run by the Salvation Army.

“They would call the black boys ‘n…..’, talk to them like dogs, say that where we came from was where they kept all the losers and that we'd never amount to anything,” he said of Epuni.

Eventually, Tanu quit crime, with help from family and faith in God. Today he wants the system that raised him to change.

He wants more Māori and Pacific Islanders to take up social work and roles in the care homes.

“They can relate better to Māori and Pacific kids because they are in the same waka.”

The Pacific Investigation into abuse in state care continues until July 30.

Where to get help: