Psychiatrist at center of Lake Alice abuse allegations unfit to stand trial

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The senior psychiatrist and man at the center of the Lake Alice abuse allegations is unfit to stand trial, his lawyer has said.

Lawyer Hayden Rattray spoke at the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care, sitting in Auckland on Tuesday, on behalf of Dr Selwyn Leeks, who was the senior psychiatrist at the Lake Children and Adolescents Unit Alice.

The final statements ended the chapter of the investigation focused on the Alice Lake Children and Youth Unit, which operated from 1972 to 1978 in Rangitkei.

Survivors, throughout the two-week hearing, spoke of sexual abuse and the punishment of electroconvulsive therapy, isolation and paraldehyde injections at the hands of Leeks and other staff.

READ MORE: * Police close to conclusion of latest Lake Alice torture investigation * Police apologize for failed Lake Alice investigations * Lake Alice staff member did not see a ‘abuse, torture or punishment

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Dr Selwyn Leeks was the senior psychiatrist at the Lake Alice Child and Youth Unit

Rattray said Leeks was 92, suffered from cancer, heart disease, kidney dysfunction, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

He said the former doctor was unaware of the procedure and was unable to respond to the charges.

Leeks, who resided in Australia, was unfit to participate in a police interview and unable to instruct lawyers.

It would be impossible for the criminal trial of these allegations to be conducted fairly now. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main one is that Selwyn Leeks is simply unfit to stand trial.

Rattray said Leeks, when he was able to do so, maintained his innocence and was therefore presumed innocent by law.

WARWICK SMITH / STUFF

Witness for the Royal Commission of Inquiry, Rangi Wickliffe, talks about his time at Lake Alice at the age of 10.

He said the investigation wasn’t just about Leeks’ alleged conduct, it was a myriad of failures that left the allegations untested for half a century.

Lawyer Alana Thomas, on behalf of the survivors, said the state betrayed the children of Lake Alice.

The state failed them prior to their admission to Lake Alice, placing them in caring situations that led to them being mistreated and assaulted.

The state let them down during their time at Lake Alice, failing to protect them from what can only be described as torture at the hands of Dr Selwyn Leeks and other Lake Alice staff.

The state continued to let these children down after they left Lake Alice, ignoring and trivializing their complaints to authorities and ultimately failing to hold Dr Leeks to account, and further traumatizing them when they attempted to ask. repair.

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The decaying kitchen of the now demolished Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital, pictured in 2009.

Thomas said the survivors, who took part in the investigation, collectively spent 19 years, three months, three weeks and one day at Lake Alice.

Most of these survivors were now in their 50s and 60s and had lived with the effects of the trauma for over 40 years.

The survivors participating in this investigation are still only a fraction of the hundreds of children who crossed Lake Alice.

Many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, memory loss, nightmares, suicidal thoughts and struggled to maintain relationships.

They painted a picture of a children’s prison, which gave an omnipotent divine figure free rein to abuse and torture children.

Lawyer Karen Feint, on behalf of the Crown, said it was clear the regulations were not enough for some survivors, who wanted accounts, rehabilitation and support.

She said the Crown admitted the treatment was cruel, inhuman and degrading. He also admitted that the lack of respect for the Mori and Pasifika children was institutional racism.

Many survivors said their main concern was to make sure what happened at Lake Alice does not happen again.

She said the Crown was convinced it would not happen again.

Feint said it was a different time in the 1970s, and that there had been dramatic changes in societal norms, psychiatric treatment, and the policies that governed medical treatment and patients’ rights.

She said the commission needed to draw the line between what was acceptable treatment in the 1970s and what was abuse.

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