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A man who has fought for 15 years with the Catholic order of San Juan de Dios and two government ministries for compensation for the sexual and physical abuse he suffered, described his life as a “horror movie.”
Kerry Johnson * told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care on Monday that she is now in her forties and has been in and out of jail.
“It’s hard for me to face all this. Still, I know I need to speak up for myself and for my colleagues who failed. “
He said it was time for the government to finally acknowledge what happened.
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LAWRENCE SMITH / Things
Judge Coral Shaw, president of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on abuse in care.
“There is no chance that I can go ahead and leave all of this behind until that happens.”
He has struggled to deal with his traumatic childhood.
“I feel like my life is full and I am trapped in a horror movie that will never end.”
Johnson was diagnosed with an intellectual disorder and behavior problems as a child.
At the age of 7 he was sent to Marylands School in Christchurch, run by the Catholic order of Saint John of God. He was sexually abused by two brothers, one of whom he later identified as Brother Bernard McGrath.
Speaking through an audiovisual link from prison, he told the Commission that he had brought down the “brick wall.”
“Now is the time for the world to hear what happened to me.”
He was moved when he spoke of being abused by the brothers.
“They would come to the bedroom, get me out of bed, take me back to their house and do things to me.”
He told the Commission that he was sweating and shaking as he recalled the abuse. The anger was still raw.
“How about taking their lives later?” Johnson asked the commissioners.
Johnson was later sent to Campbell Park, where he described further rape and abuse.
He told the Commission that he woke up one morning and went to breakfast to discover that three of his friends had taken their own lives.
“They had no parents. All they had was us. “
Johnson said he injured himself and was sent to Templeton Hospital and then Stanmore Rd where he was violent.
He spoke of “strike first” because he did not want to be abused again.
Johnson also spent time in the Sunnyside mental hospital, where he was sometimes tied to the bed and beaten.
“That’s all I have, hiding places. It was the staff. It shouldn’t have been there, it was for really sick patients. I don’t know why it was there, but they said it was out of the door, out of control. “
Later in Kingslea there was more violence.
“We had riots there because we were always fighting the staff… It was normal… I had to fight all the time just to survive. My survival is to attack. “
Robert Kitchin / Things
Attorney Sonja Cooper specializes in social justice. She conducted tests on one of her clients, Kerry Johnson, on the Royal Commission.
As an adult, Johnson instructed human rights attorney Sonja Cooper, who took legal action against the Order of San Juan de Dios, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Education.
That legal action has been marred by the removal of Legal Aid funds and Johnson’s time in and out of prison.
Sometimes Johnson didn’t have a phone.
The order of San Juan de Dios settled with Johnson for $ 28,500 and then made an additional payment of an additional $ 25,000.
The Social Development Ministry offered a $ 5,000 settlement, a fraction of what Cooper’s law firm said it should get.
Johnson said he accepted the offer anyway because “he had had enough.”
A letter of apology from the Ministry apologized to Johnson for “disappointing him.”
The Ministry of Health also paid $ 5,000 for the abuse Johnson suffered in mental health institutions.
“At the end of the day, it didn’t bring my childhood … my childhood was taken away.”
Those offers do not include the abuse at Campbell Park, which has yet to be resolved. It has not yet obtained recognition from the Ministry of Education.
“I can’t understand why my claim is not finished yet, after all that time. It seems the government wants to sweep all of this under the rug and doesn’t want to hear any of it. “
The effects of his traumatic childhood continue.
“I am back in prison now because I tried freedom and freedom doesn’t work. I keep remembering all the things that happened to me in my childhood and I can’t deal with it. “
When he gets out of prison, he plans to return to Campbell Park and leave flowers for his friends who took their own lives.
While in prison, he had received counseling and was now living for his granddaughter.
He had a message for the Ministry of Education.
“Pay me, pay me so I can get on with my life.”
* Not your real name.
Where to get help for sexual violence
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Rape crisis 0800 88 33 00, click on the link for local help lines.
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Support for victims 0800 842 846, text 4334, safetotalk.nz web chat or email [email protected].
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Port Online information and support for people affected by sexual abuse.
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Women’s shelter 0800733843 (female only)
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Male survivors Aotearoa Helplines in New Zealand, click for more information (male only).
