High Court's ruling for stay of charges against former Lake Alice nurse angers survivors

It seems no one will ever be convicted for the abuse of patients at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital's notorious child and adolescent unit, leaving former patients with a huge sense of injustice.

This week, the High Court ordered a halt to court proceedings against a former charge nurse at the lower North Island institution in the 1970s.

Ninety-one-year-old John Richard Corkran, known as Dempsey Corkran, is the only former staff member to face prosecution.

He was due to stand trial in Wellington later this year.

But the court has granted a defence application for a permanent stay, meaning there would be no trial.

This came 18 months after the latest police investigation into Lake Alice found there was enough evidence to charge the unit's boss, lead psychiatrist Dr Selwyn Leeks, and one other staff member, but they were unfit for trial.

Leeks died in early 2022.

One of the people Corkran allegedly injected with a painful paralysing drug, whose name is suppressed, said he wanted a day in court.

"They shouldn't have started it if they weren't going to continue it," he said.

"They've just annoyed the hell out of us, thinking we're going to get a last say, and they've annoyed Dempsey Corkran for finishing his life in turmoil."

The man could not remember Corkran doing anything wrong to him. He did though witness the terror of Leeks' reign, and first complained to police in the 1980s. Like other Lake Alice survivors, he was not believed.

The fact no-one had been convicted for crimes at Lake Alice was an affront given what happened, including children and teens receiving electric shocks, the man said.

"I haven't ever seen any justice, at any time.

"We're survivors. That's how we win... The sad thing is, we've seen the news lately, in the last couple of days - abuse in state care."

He was referring to media reports that two staff members have been stood down at two Oranga Tamariki residences following serious allegations about "inappropriate sexual behaviour" towards children in its care.

Previous police inquiries into the Lake Alice unit the 1970s and early 2000s did not result in charges being laid. At the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care's look into the Lake Alice unit in 2021, police apologised for shortcomings in the early 2000s probe.

The former patient remembered what he witnessed at the Lake Alice unit.

"ECT [electric shocks] was used. Paraldehyde was used. Kids were stripped down naked, put in cells at the end of dorms for days on end - a bucket to piss and s--t in, food given to them, no blanket.

"How's that going to create a better person?"

The latest police investigation opened after another former Lake Alice patient, Paul Zentveld, successfully took a case with the United Nations Committee against torture.

He was angry the chance for survivors to give evidence in court has gone.

"It's got to stop. The injustices are being done right in front of our faces, year after year," he said.

"Where's the accountability? None. Just another national shame, and we're not supposed to jump up and down and say anything, and just take it on the chin."

The UN committee will next month review the government's response to its findings that children were tortured at Lake Alice.

Zentveld said the committee would be told about a lengthy wait for redress, and the stay for Corkran.

"All I can say is, who are the crazy ones in this?"

'Deeply disappointing'

Dr Oliver Sutherland laid a complaint with police in 1977 about reports of electric shock treatment at Lake Alice.

He said the following year's investigation was decent, until police decided not to lay charges on the advice of a senior psychiatrist.

Then, there were decades of delay.

"It's deeply disappointing that after 46 years of repeated and vindicated allegations of the most horrendous abuse that no one's going to be held accountable.

"Actually, the problem isn't charge nurse Corkran. In his 90s, he probably deserves to be left in peace. The problem is the failure of police to act much earlier and charge the psychiatrist, Dr Leeks. They could have done so back in 1978."

Sutherland said he felt for the 300 or so survivors of the Lake Alice unit.

"They're probably shrugging their shoulders and saying, 'What's new?' Life's moved on for them, but they won't forget what happened. My guess is they're just feeling let down by the system.

"Now, it's too late. There won't be any prosecution."

Mike Ferriss, from the Citizens Commission for Human Rights, has helped Zentveld, and fellow former patient Malcolm Richards, with their UN torture cases.

He was also frustrated that charges against Corkran were only laid in 2021.

"We have a clear cut case of torture of children in a psychiatric facility, which was known about. All the evidence was there...

"I think it's really appalling that the authorities weren't on to this much much earlier and with much more integrity then they had," he said.

"Unfortunately, this police investigation, which was the last one, was way too late.

"I think what really stands out, and I think this police investigation really proves it, was that the evidence was there all along. It was never not there."

Various reasons for injections

Corkran faced eight charges of ill-treating children, between 1974 and 1977.

Court documents alleged Corkran injected the boys with drugs for reasons including them running away; calling him a b*****d; "being smart"; and because a boy was "enjoying himself too much, laughing and having jokes with friends".

Six alleged victims were named in court documents, while another charge referred to an unidentified child. The ill-treatment charges have a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.

Detective Inspector David Kirby said police acknowledged the High Court decision.

"The result is disappointing for former patients who made allegations of ill-treatment, while at the Lake Alice Hospital child and adolescent unit in the 1970s.

"Police will not be making any further comment on this matter."