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New Plymouth, Taranaki
Waiting too long: Abuse in care survivor dies waiting for change
After decades hoping for change, one of the first abuse in care survivors to speak out has died before he could see it happen. His family and friends say survivors have had to wait too long. MADDY CROAD reports.
Christina flicks through her folder of newspaper clippings until she stops at story from June 2002.
“This was dad’s article,” she says.
Headlined Gagged by the Church, it was thought to be the first time a confidential settlement involving the Catholic Church had been made public in New Zealand, and one of the first times a survivor had spoken publicly about their abuse.
Patrick* was just 9 when he was sexually abused by a brother of St John of God at Marylands, a school for those with learning disabilities.
He was one of the 537 boys at the Christchurch school. According to the recently-published report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, 118 of those boys reported being abused.
Friend and survivor advocate Ken Clearwater remembered the weeks after Patrick’s article was published. Between himself and the police, they received over 130 phone calls from men who attended Marylands.
“That’s what opened up the abuse by Catholics here in New Zealand.”