The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry State Redress hearing resumes today in Auckland with an earlier start of 9.00am.

Commissioners will hear from two witnesses. Witness evidence summaries are outlined below.

The hearing is being live-streamed at here.

The State Redress hearing is open to media but closed to the public because of Covid social distancing restrictions.

Hearing location: Level 2, 414 Khyber Pass Road, Newmarket, Auckland 1023.

23 September

9.00am

Chassy Duncan (AVL from Falkland Islands)

Chassy Duncan is Ngāti Kahungunu. He will give evidence about the ongoing process of resolving claims of abuse against the Ministry of Social Development in relation to his time in Child Youth and Family care and the Ministry of Education in respect of his time at a residential special school.  He will describe the challenges of dealing with two different claims processes and the difficulty with raising further information in the process.  Chassy will also explain his experience of attending meetings with claims assessors, the sharing of information between organisations and the disclosure of his personal information to the Police and other organisations.

2.15pm (approx.):

Patrick Stevens (anonymised name)

Patrick Stevens’ evidence will be read, as sadly he passed away during Covid-19 lockdown.  His evidence outlines his experience of going through the historic claims process with the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Health. Patrick’s claim against the Ministry of Social Development related to social work practice failures while he was in child welfare and social welfare care. His claims against the Ministry of Health related to abuse suffered while admitted to the Manawaroa Unit at Palmerston North Hospital and while informally admitted to the Child and Adolescent Unit at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital. His evidence explains the different approaches to his claims of abuse and the different settlement outcomes. 

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Media enquiries: 027 298 2094; media@abuseincare.org.nz