Crown cover-up? The timeline

1972 – Dr Selwyn Leeks sets up the adolescent unit at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital.  Many of the children who ended up there were from other state institutions, particularly those run by the Department of Social Welfare, including Hokio, Kohitere, Holdsworth, Epuni and Owairaka.
1974 – Dr Oliver Sutherland starts to become involved in exposing the abuse in DSW institutions.
1976 – Dr Oliver Sutherland becomes aware of the adolescent unit at Lake Alice and exposes in the media. Citizens Commission on Human Rights also involved.
1978 – Lake Alice adolescent unit is closed.  Dr Leeks moves to Australia and is given a certificate of good standing from Medical Council. Complaints were made to Medical Council and Police but no one was held accountable.
1980s – Abuses exposed in Chelmsford in Australia.  Health Minister Helen Clark opens an inquiry into the use of deep sleep therapy in psychiatric hospitals in New Zealand.  The abuse at Lake Alice was not investigated.
1994 – Lake Alice victim Leoni McInroe, represented by Rob Chambers QC, an expert on tort law, files a civil case against the Crown and Dr Selwyn Leeks. Her case would face numerous delays and barriers created by Crown Law for nine years.
1995 – By September 1995, the Crown had two opinions on McInroe’s claim from experienced psychiatrists, both saying Dr Leeks’ conduct was professionally inappropriate. Despite this, the Crown continued to defend the McInroe claim for many more years.
1997 – Media coverage of Lake Alice. Civil action filed by lawyer Grant Cameron on behalf of a large group of victims.
1998 – Bill English briefed by government officials, including Janice Wilson, head of mental health, and is made aware of the credibility of the allegations by Lake Alice victims.  Is also aware that many Lake Alice victims are also making allegations that they were sexually and physically abused in state welfare institutions. Other government agencies are notified of the potential legal liability these allegations create. Cabinet considered legal options, including using legal technicalities.  Doug Graham was Attorney General at the time.
1999 – Opposition leader at the time Helen Clark is critical of government’s response to Lake Alice, referring to what happened to children as torture. Ministry is aware files corroborate allegations by Lake Alice victims.  Staff files that are relevant to allegations of abuse in state welfare institutions are destroyed, despite awareness of victims’ legal claims.
2000 – Helen Clark and Annette King are briefed on Lake Alice and present a paper to Cabinet outlining the central allegations and the legal options.  Margaret Wilson is Attorney General.
2002 – Out of court settlement reached with Cameron group of claimants, undercutting Leoni McInroe’s claim from going to court.  Apology from Helen Clark only refers to mistreatment and denies legal liability.  A number of victims forward their files to police and make criminal complaints, including about rape and sexual abuse.
2007 – Earl White and his brother Paul (pseudonyms) are the claimants in civil litigation against MSD that became known as the White Case, alleging they had been abused while in the custody of the state in Epuni and Hokio.  The claimants’ allegations that they were abused were proven, but the Crown was found not liable on legal technicalities. Justice Millar found that Earl had been sexually abused at least 13 times but said the abuse was “embarrassing, not traumatic.”
The decision was upheld by Court of Appeal and has been case law since.  Peter Hughes was the chief executive of MSD at the time.  MSD had withheld information from the victims’ lawyer that the main perpetrator, Michael Ansell, had criminal convictions for abusing children at Hokio.
The White case has had huge implications for the thousands of victims who have come forward with allegations of abuse in state welfare institutions and foster homes. Because of the court decision, the Crown has control over how victims are compensated.
2009 – Attorney General Chris Finlayson admits to Sonja Cooper, lawyer representing victims, that “the Lake Alice claimants’ allegations that they were subjected to improper treatment could be verified from the contemporaneous records.  The records showed Leeks was practising a form of aversion therapy, using the ECT machine, that was indefensible even for its time (the 1970s).”
2010 – Police conclude investigation into Lake Alice (there were actually two distinct inquiries), saying there was not enough evidence to prosecute.  But Police did not speak to victims and did not have access to crucial evidence held by Crown Law.
2011 – Human Rights Commission prepares a report on state abuse which called for an independent inquiry, but Attorney General Chris Finlayson puts pressure on the commission that prevents its release.
2012 – United Nations special rapporteur, Ms Felice Gaer, wrote to the Government saying the committee (against torture) was concerned there had been no “prompt, impartial and effective investigation into all claims of abuse” at Lake Alice and no prosecution of “alleged perpetrators of the torture and ill-treatment perpetrated there”.
2014 – Minister of Justice Judith Collins denies at the UN that New Zealand commits state torture. The statement was in response to a question raised by Iran.
2016 – Media coverage adds to momentum for calls for independent inquiry.
2017 – State abuse victims and their supporters protest outside Parliament, demanding an independent inquiry.
2018 – Ardern Government announces a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care
2020 – UN finds New Zealand in breach of the Convention Against Torture for failing to thoroughly investigate Lake Alice and provide proper redress.  This leads to a fourth police investigation being opened and the police request documents from Crown Law.  Crown Law does not provide key documents, including Leoni McInroe’s file which includes a crucial medical report that refers to Leeks’ actions as medical misadventure.  Police eventually find, after an 18-month investigation, that there was more than enough evidence to prosecute but Leeks is unfit to stand trial.  He dies a few months later.
2021 – Solicitor General Una Jagose admits on behalf of the Crown in front of the Royal Commission that what happened at Lake Alice met the UN’s definition of torture.  She also admits the Crown had always known what Leeks was doing was not medical treatment, because the evidence was in the file.
2022 – Royal Commission of Inquiry report on Lake Alice makes a finding, based partly on Jagose’s evidence, that what happened at Lake Alice was torture.
2024 – Final report of Royal Commission, which runs to 16 volumes, is tabled in Parliament.  Prime Minister Christopher Luxon acknowledges that what happened at Lake Alice was torture and apologises to victims.