Former Lake Alice staff responsible for sexual assaults and mistreatment of child patients in the psychiatric hospital 25 to 30 years ago will escape criminal prosecution by the Crown Law Office.
Incidents from 1972 to 1977 were investigated by retired High Court judge Sir Rodney Gallen.
They are understood to include electro-convulsive
therapy used as punishment, injections of paraldehyde causing excruciating pain, and sexual abuse by staff members and other patients.
Children are also said to have been placed in the adult maximum security wing, and endured long periods of solitary confinement. Complaints of rape and sodomy were reported by many people.
Last week, the Government apologised and paid $6.5 million in an out-of-court settlement to 95 former patients of the hospital's child and adolescent unit.
A spokeswoman for Solicitor-General Terence Arnold said yesterday that any investigation or prosecution was a police matter, but this was criticised as a technicality by Council for Civil Liberties chairman Tony Ellis.
"Strictly speaking, yes, it is the police's responsibility to investigate and decide whether or not to prosecute, but for something such as this, where there is an act of what I would describe as state wrongdoing, I would expect the Solicitor-General to be involved."
The case, which Mr Ellis said was "an embarrassment" for the Crown, would be difficult in terms of finding staff members after 30 years and bringing evidence, including former patients' recollections.
"But it's a little rich ... to hide behind, 'It's the police who prosecute'."
The Australasian psychiatrists' body is calling for an investigation into supervising psychiatrist Dr Selwyn Leeks after allegations that he used electric shocks and painful injections on child patients at Lake Alice hospital in the 1970s.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists had asked for the Melbourne-based doctor's role at the hospital to be investigated by the Victorian Medical Tribunal, executive director Craig Patterson said from Melbourne.
The college of psychiatrists could not investigate alleged cases of members breaching ethical or clinical standards, but could suspend or terminate membership if an investigating body found evidence of either.
A New Zealand Medical Council spokeswoman said the council had considered one complaint against Dr Leeks last year, but decided not to take any further action.
He is no longer registered as a doctor in New Zealand, but is practising in Australia.
- NZPA
