News

OPINION: Never look a gift horse in the mouth. That’s the first phrase that sprang to mind when Dilworth School announced plans to compensate former students who were sexually abused by its teachers, over many decades.

But Dilworth’s offer of money (details of which are yet to be released) is not a gift, of course. It would be fundamentally wrong to consider it a gift. Those whose school years, and often their adulthoods, were blighted might properly consider it a right – or if not that, then certainly the very least the school can and should do.

The Dilworth survivors have walked a long, long road to this point. It’s three years since the school was warned by an old boy that a storm of allegations would soon be upon it; two years since the school first apologised for the actions of its former staff members.

Vulnerable boys who were harmed by Ian Wilson, Ross Browne, Graham Lindsay and others, have told their stories to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, and to the school, and to courts, and to journalists. Their bravery has been outstanding and god knows (I use the term deliberately) they deserve whatever the school, or society, can give them.

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The head of the New Zealand Catholic church has asked the Vatican for permission to launch an investigation into the handling of complaints about a priest who groomed a teenage girl.

Sateki Raass resigned from the priesthood after he was convicted in 2019 of indecent communication with a girl under 16 and ordered to serve 100 hours community service.

A series of stories by Stuff has since unravelled the Auckland diocese’s handling of the case. This includes bishop Patrick Dunn’s original plans – all later reversed – not to tell school communities attached to Raass’ parish, to allow Raass to say mass after his arrest, and to bail him to a presbytery attached to another primary school despite bail conditions prohibiting contact with under-16s.

Dunn also told parishioners Raass’ offending was merely “inappropriate text messaging”, paid for a QC to represent Raass, and has not directly apologised to the victim’s family.

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ACC is spending nearly 45 million dollars on a bid to prevent sexual violence, including $11.7 million for kaupapa Māori approaches.

Over the next four years it aimed to tackle the underlying causes of sexual violence and to do work on changing attitudes and behaviours.

The agency would work on the problem alongside other government agencies, specialist services, providers, iwi and communities.

ACC minister Carmel Sepuloni said Aotearoa-New Zealand had unacceptable rates of sexual violence.

Almost a quarter of adults had experienced sexual violence, one of the highest rates for countries in the OECD.

And minister Sepuloni said about 16 percent of people are affected by sexual violence before they turn 18 years old.

These high rates cannot continue, we need to put in place systems that protect our whānau and our future generations.

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A priest convicted of grooming a teenage girl to send him nude photos was the subject of a previous complaint that was covered up by the Tongan Catholic Church.

The victim’s aunt and an abuse survivors’ group said it showed the church should have prevented Sosefo Sateki Raass’ offending.

The Tongan church gave Raass a good character reference before he moved to Auckland, where he was convicted in 2019 of indecent communication with a person under 16 and subsequently quit the priesthood.

But a complaint had been lodged about Raass in 2006, and the head of the Tongan church, Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi, admitted there were repeated rumours about Raass’ behaviour.

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Thousands of child exploitation images, including images of children as young as two being raped and tortured, were found on a laptop computer discarded at an apartment rubbish dump.

The computer was found by a member of the public at a central Christchurch address, who briefly checked it and saw what appeared to be images of naked underage boys.

When police did a full forensic examination, they found 3266 files, including dozens that were in the worst category of exploitation images.

Police determined the laptop belonged to Jasper James Gallacher​ Force, 30, who lived at the apartment complex where it was dumped.

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A web-crawling software will be used in New Zealand with the aim of detecting and removing child sex abuse material.

The New Zealand Classification Office has joined a one-year pilot in collaboration with Canada’s Project Arachnid, which searches for and identifies child sex abuse material online.

Chief Censor David Shanks said the worldwide scope of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection‘s project meant New Zealanders could benefit from increased data and reporting on the material while contributing to a leading global initiative.

Project Arachnid uses web-crawling software which systematically browses the internet to detect child sexual abuse images and videos on both the open and dark web. It then issues takedown notices to hosting providers.

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Oranga Tamariki was warned about restraints at a Christchurch care and protection residence months before it was finally closed.

The concerns are highlighted in a December 2020 report by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner into Te Oranga Care and Protection Residence.

It said children and young people were still being hurt during restraints.

A quote from one young person described them as “triggering for some people”.

While staff were making progress in reducing the number of incidents where force was used, young people were still reporting injuries.

Assistant Māori Children’s Commissioner Glenis Philip-Barbara said the residences held people with complex needs.

They’ve often come from a background that’s incredibly complicated, and often traumatic.

A young person who ends up in a care and protection residence has no other option for placement.

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WARNING: This article references indecent assault and suicide.

A Wellington man says his life has been destroyed by an indecent assault and what he sees as significant failings by the justice system. Mackenzie Skinner speaks to the Herald about the reality of being a male abuse survivor in Aotearoa.

Mackenzie Skinner has lost friends, family, his job, and left the only town he’s ever known. He says he has truly lost everything.

Before he was indecently assaulted, Skinner’s life was on the up. He had a start-up business, a new job, and people he thought were his friends.

Now he spends most days sitting alone in his apartment and says he’s lost count of the times he’s considered whether life is worth living.

How many times can someone ask for help before they give up?

Mackenzie Skinner

Two years ago Skinner was unconscious in the back of a car when he says a man filmed while a woman repeatedly tried to insert an object into his anus.

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