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Robert Kitchin / Things
“In general, I find it quite insincere,” Keith Wiffin says of the apology.
This story was first published on RNZ.co.nz and is being republished with permission.
A man who was abused while in state custody has ridiculed an apology given him by a Crown witness at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
Keith Wiffin, 60, was subjected to sexual violence and abuse while at the Epuni Children’s Home in the 1970s.
The senior claims advisor for the Ministry of Social Development, Garth Young, acknowledged to the Royal Commission the abuse that Wiffin had suffered and said that his case was the one that had concerned him the most over the years.
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Wiffin finds it difficult to accept the apology.
“Maybe he really has some qualms about how my case was handled and that is why he should do it, but on the whole I find him quite insincere.”
He said that his case is not unique, as there are many other people who have been disappointed by the process and have suffered the same misery and despair as him.
Wiffin said he was willing to speak and that the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) had been discovered and the comments to the commission were more of an exercise in saving face.
“The process has been a disaster from the beginning and still is.
“I firmly believe that if they could do what they did to me then, if they could do it now, they would do it,” he said.
LAWRENCE SMITH / Things
Judge Coral Shaw, president of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Abuse in Care.
Wiffin said he doesn’t feel like MSD is doing anything out of the generosity of his heart.
“The only reason this may have changed a bit, although it is debatable whether or not it has, is the pressure exerted.”
It calls for the immediate creation of an independent body to deal with claims from people who have suffered abuse in state and faith-based care.
Wiffin said that until an organization is formed, survivors will not receive the help they deserve.
He said it must be independent of any government department or agency that was responsible for the abuse in the first place.
Wiffin said the new entity must have objectivity, fairness and fairness that the current claims process has never had.
He hopes that the Royal Commission will recommend the creation of an independent body in its interim report.
This story was first published on RNZ.co.nz and is being republished with permission.
