Police apologise for failings in Lake Alice investigations

Thursday, 24 June 2021

A senior police officer has acknowledged shortcomings in the investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse at a psychiatric hospital.

Dozens of survivors from Lake Alice came forward in the early 2000s with allegations from their time at the institution in the 1970s.

“Police accept that in the 2002 to 2010 period police did not accord sufficient priority in resources to the investigation of criminal offending at the child and adolescent unit at the Lake Alice psychiatric hospital,” Detective Superintendent Thomas Fitzgerald said on Thursday.

“This resulted in unacceptable delays in the investigation and meant that not all allegations were thoroughly investigated.”

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“The police wish to apologise to the Lake Alice survivors for these failings.”

Police were committed to assessing their policies and making sure national investigations were appropriately resourced so such failings didn’t happen again, Fitzgerald said.

The police director of criminal investigations read a statement to commissioners in Auckland as part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

This part of the inquiry is focused on the unit, which operated from 1972 to 1978 in Rangitīkei.

Fitzgerald said with the benefit of hindsight, police investigations would have included the use of the drug paraldehyde.

From 2002-2006 the police investigation was run by Lawrence Reid.

In 2002 police received 34 statements from Lake Alice survivors who were part of a class action by lawyer Grant Cameron.

“It appears 14 or 15 of those statements may have been lost,” Fitzgerald said.

It was not clear when that happened, but 20 statements were on police records in 2005.

“It’s unknown if any investigative steps were taken in respect of these complaints, but it appears unlikely.”

A 2018 review of the remaining 20 statements found 11 contained allegations of sexual or physical abuse, but no file was made in the police database. Because of this, Fitzgerald said “a number” of documents could no longer be found.

The 2018 review of the material available to police from 2003 to 2006 show an opinion was sought from Crown Law about one complainant, Hakeagapuletama Halo.

Halo and a former Lake Alice teacher, Anna Natusch, were interviewed, and a schedule of alleged offending and suspects prepared. There was also correspondence, including with the director-general of health and health and disabilities commissioner.

A 2003 Crown Law memorandum recorded police did not consider the investigation should continue given the historical allegations and the context in which they occurred, a psychiatric facility where electro-convulsive therapy was used.

In 2004 police received a legal opinion to do with Halo’s allegations. Police were advised to make further inquiries to see if a detailed investigation was warranted.

Other suggested inquiries were contained in the opinion, but those were not undertaken for two years.

“Police did not actively progress the complaints they had until 2006,” Fitzgerald said.

Reid had believed the chances of a successful prosecution were unlikely because of the Crown Law opinion and the death of an unnamed sexual abuse suspect.

“Police acknowledge that with the benefit of hindsight the scope of the investigation was too narrow.”

The inquiry continues.